SOME  AMERICAN 


OWARD  A.  KEL 


HITECTURE 


Ex 

Libris 
BEATRIX 
FARRAND 


REEF  POINT  GARDENS 
LIBRARY 


The  Gift  of  Beatrix  Farrand 

to  the  General  Library 
University  of  California,  Berkeley 


SOME  AMERICAN 
MEDICAL  BOTANISTS 

Commemorated  in  our  Botanical 
Nomenclature 


BY 

HOWARD  A.  ^ELLY,  M.D.,  LL.D. 


Delivered  as  a  lecture  before  the  Medical  Historical  Society  of 

Chicago,  2920,  and  before  the  University  of  Nebraska, 

October  16,  1913 


TROY,   N.Y. 

THE   SOUTHWORTH   COMPANY,    PUBLISHERS 
1914 


COPYRIGHT,  1914 

BY 

THE  8OUTHWORTH  COMPANY, 
TROY,  NEW  YORK 


BALTIMORE,  MD.,  U.  S.  A. 


Add'l 

LANDSCAPE 
ARCHITECTURE 


LANDSCAFl 

ARCH. 

UBHARY 


DEDICATION 

I  am  happy  in  dedicating  this  work  of  love  to 
her  who  inspired  me  with  my  first  interest  in 
God's  natural  world,  who  planned  my  first  fear- 
some excursions  out  into  the  unknown  for  speci- 
mens, who  rejoiced  in  my  boyish  triumphs  and 
who  still  continues  the  inspiration  of  my  riper 
years — my  jMother. 


269 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

PREFACE  7 

INTRODUCTION   n 

SARRAZIN,  MICHEL  S 31 

MITCHELL,   JOHN    33 

GOLDEN,    CADWALADER 38 

CLAYTON,  JOHN 44 

BARTRAM,  JOHN 49 

GARDEN,    ALEXANDER 60 

KUHN,  ADAM 69 

MARSHALL,   MOSES 75 

WISTAR,    CASPAR 82 

BARTON,  BENJAMIN  SMITH 88 

HOSACK,    DAVID 97 

BALDWIN,    WILLIAM 104 

DARLINGTON,    WILLIAM 113 

MACBRIDE,    JAMES 118 

BIGELOW,  JACOB 120 

SHORT,  CHARLES  WILKINS 129 

TORREY,   JOHN 136 

PITCHER,  ZINA 145 

PICKERING,   CHARLES 151 

RIDDELL,  JOHN  LEONARD 154 

ENGELMANN,   GEORGE 157 

CHAPMAN,  ALVAN  WENTWORTH 163 

GRAY,    ASA 165 

SAXE,  ARTHUR  WELLESLEY 178 

PARRY,  CHARLES  CHRISTOPHER 180 

HOWE,  ELLIOT  C 187 

HERBST,   WILLIAM 190 

POST,  GEORGE  EDWARD 192 

ROTHROCK,  JOSEPH  TRIMBLE 203 

HAPEMAN,  HARRY 214 


"  Incisi  fundunt  capitella  papaveris  ex  se 
somniferas  lachrymas,  Opii  sub  nomine  claras: 
Illud  restituit  lapsas  in  pristina  vires 
exhibitum   caute,   &   cluet   anchora   sacra    Medentum: 
Sin  minus,  est  gladius,  quern  gestat  dextra  furentis." 

(From  Title-page  of  George  Wolffgang  Wedel's  Opiologia,  Jena,    1682) 


PREFACE 

I  have  written  these  brief  sketches  of  the  lives 
of  some  of  our  great  medical  forebears  who  lived 
in  the  days  when  there  were  giants  and  when  the 
Anakim  lived  in  the  land,  in  order  to  while  away 
a  few  pleasant  hours  and  to  wean  my  fellow- 
doctors  and  surgeons  a  little  from  the  pragmatic 
spirit  of  the  age.  The  lives  of  some  of  these  old 
worthies  led  them  to  lift  their  eyes  daily  from 
nature  to  nature's  God  and  to  recognize  in  the 
Bible  the  same  hand  that  made  the  floweret,  so 
that  Chaucer's  accusation  "  His  studie  was  but 
litel  on  the  Bible  "  no  longer  held.  I  would  that 
many  of  their  lineal  successors  were  like  them  in 
their  piety. 

My  lifelong  interest  in  botany  began  in  the 
year  1874,  witn  a  warm  friendship  with  Dr.  J.  P. 
Crozier  Griffith  at  Upland,  Delaware  County, 
Pennsylvania.  Later,  in  1877,  we  were  both 
medical  students  when  I  had  assumed  charge  of 
a  Summer  School  of  Natural  History  at  North 
Mountain,  in  Sullivan  County,  Pennsylvania,  to- 
gether with  my  lifelong  friend,  Dr.  Lewis  H. 
Taylor,  of  Wilkes-Barre,  Pennsylvania.  We 
three  botanized  in  the  footsteps  of  our  revered 
predecessor,  that  distinguished  botanist,  Dr.  J.  T. 


8  PREFACE 

Rothrock.  Here,  in  prosecuting  our  botanical 
studies,  we  broadened  our  interests  to  include  the 
ferns.  It  was  in  this  locality  and  at  this  time  that 
Dr.  Griffith  found  the  Aspidium  aculeatum, 
variety  Braunii,  growing  in  a  profusion  of  beauti- 
ful sturdy  brown  clusters  at  the  falls  of  a  little 
brook  which  tumbles  down  through  the  shales  of 
the  mountain  on  its  way  toward  the  North 
Branch  of  the  Susquehanna  River.  As  this  was  a 
lower  habitat  than  any  before  noted,  it  was  tri- 
umphantly recorded  at  a  subsequent  meeting  at 
the  Academy  of  Natural  Sciences  of  Philadel- 
phia. Of  the  joys  of  this  and  many  subsequent 
summers ;  of  the  patient  hours  spent  with  needles 
and  lens  in  overcoming  difficulties,  and  the  con- 
stant thumbing,  sometimes  of  Wood's,  but  gen- 
erally of  Gray's,  analytical  keys,  with  the  tri- 
umphs of  identification  of  some  hundreds  of  our 
native  plants  of  Pennsylvania  and  adjacent  states ; 
of  trips  to  New  Jersey  for  Helonias  bullata  and 
other  treasures,  and  the  thrilling  memories  of  the 
specialized  groups  of  plants  found  by  the  sea- 
shore, my  old  Gray's  Botany,  with  its  marginal 
notes  of  time  and  place  of  finds,  continues  to  bear 
mute  but  eloquent  testimony.  Nor  dare  I  omit  to 
mention  here,  among  the  rarities,  the  beautiful 
little  Pellaea  gracilis  found  growing  at  Raines's 
Falls  in  the  Catskills.  These  were  the  days  when 
Rothrock  was  in  his  prime;  when  Thomas  Mee- 


PREFACE  9 

ban  and  John  H.  Redfield,  ever  willing  coad- 
jutors of  the  younger  generation,  were  active  in 
the  meetings  at  the  Academy  of  Natural  Sciences 
in  Philadelphia;  when  Asa  Gray,  almost  the  cre- 
ator of  ourNorth  American  botanical  science,  was 
looked  up  to  as  the  great  leader  of  us  all ;  and 
when  Eaton  was  cataloguing  and  figuring  the 
ferns  of  North  America.  Times  have  changed 
and  other  interests  seem  to  thrill  the  boys  of  to- 
day, but  neither  they  nor  any  subsequent  genera- 
tion will  ever  discover  a  passion  purer,  sweeter 
and  more  refining  and  more  exhilarating  than  the 
field  botanical  excursions,  followed  by  the  subse- 
quent painstaking  closet  work  of  identification, 
which  occupied  their  fathers  and  grandfathers. 
I  fear  reviewers  will  accuse  me  of  being  some- 
what capricious  in  my  selections,  for  some  other 
names  besides  those  chosen  are  also  worthy  of 
extended  notice. 

It  is  a  pleasure  to  acknowledge  my  debt  first 
of  all  to  Davina  Waterson,  who  has  devoted  her 
time  and  her  talents  to  this  work  from  start  to 
finish  for  several  years,  and  without  whom  it 
could  never  have  been  completed ;  for,  although 
the  lives  are  brief,  they  have  been  prepared  only 
after  a  painstaking  search  for  facts  in  current 
journals,  in  reports,  as  well  as  in  biographies. 

I  am  glad,  also,  to  thank  Prof.  J.  H.  Barnhart, 
Prof.  N.  L.  Britton,  Dr.  G.  T.  Stevens,  Prof.  Uri 


10  PREFACE 

Lloyd  and  Prof.  Edward  J.  Nolan  for  their  help 
in  revision. 

The  book  includes  medical  men,  living  and 
dead,  who  have  been  honored  and  immortalized 
by  these  floral  tributes.  I  shall  be  thankful  to  any 
one  who  will  help  me  by  adding  others. 


INTRODUCTION 

"  There  is  religion  in  a  flower ; 
Its  still,  small  voice  is  as  the  voice  of  conscience; 
Mountains  and  oceans,  planets,  suns  and  systems 
Bear  not  the  impress  of  Almighty  power 
In  characters  more  legible  than  those 
Which  He  hath  written  on  the  tiniest  flower 
Whose  light  bell  bends  beneath  the  dewdrop's  weight.'* 

I  began,  once  upon  a  time,  to  gather  some  bio- 
graphical data  relative  to  the  floral  medical  god- 
fathers of  such  well-known  plants  as  the  Gar- 
denia, Wistaria  and  Glaytonia,  and  this  led  me 
holidaying  further  into  the  botanical  field  than  I 
had  ever  intended  to  wander.  My  little  flower- 
bed soon  grew  into  a  fair  garden  of  no  small  size, 
for  there  sprang  up  on  all  sides  the  names  of  many 
other  botanists  and  flowers  clamoring  for  recog- 
nition, until  at  last  my  plots  and  alleys  had  de- 
veloped into  a  stately  botanic  garden.  As  I  ad- 
vanced I  found  my  heroes  scattered  through  the 
centuries,  so  I  proceeded  to  arrange  them  in  sim- 
ple chronological  sequence.  It  seemed  well,  too, 
to  trace  the  wonderful  work  of  our  American  pio- 
neer botanists  at  a  time  when  journeying  was 
truly  laborious  and  often  dangerous,  and  good 
text-books  comparatively  scarce.  Now,  on  the 
completion  of  my  task,  I  find  in  my  garden  such 


IX 


MAP   OF  THE   AMERICAS   IN    1663 
(From  the  original  in  the  author's  possession) 

Western   coast   unknown    and   the    Gulf   of   California  called  the  Vermian 
Sea.     Lower   California    represented   as   an    island 


INTRODUCTION  13 

the  author  writing  on  specimens  sent  him  from 
Canada,  and  it  seems  probable  that  Thomas  Har- 
iot  (or  Harriott)  (1560-1621)  was  really  the  first 
to  write  on  the  natural  history  of  America 
in  his  Briefe  and  True  Report  of  the  new 
found  Land  of  Virginia  (1590).  Harriott  was 
the  friend  of  Raleigh  and  was  sent  out  by 
him  to  America.  Two  other  Englishmen,  John 
Josselyn,  living  in  Boston,  and  the  Rev.  John 
Banister,  who  came  over  and  settled  in  America, 
added  to  the  literature  in  New  England's 
Rarities,  1672,  and  A  Catalogue  of  Plants  Ob- 
served in  Virginia,  1680.  The  statement  that 
Banister  ever  travelled,  except  from  England  to 
Virginia  (where  he  settled  and  remained  until 
his  death)  appears  to  be  without  foundation. 

There  still  exists  some  of  the  Botanic  Garden 
made  by  Dr.  John  Bartram,  about  1730,  on  the 
right  bank  of  the  Schuylkill,  near  Philadelphia. 
From  this  garden  the  doctor  sent  collections  of 
seeds  and  plants  to  his  friend  Peter  Collinson  *  in 
London.  He  also  conducted  A  series  of  experi- 
ments on  the  Lychnis  dioica,  illustrative  of  the 
doctrine  of  sex  in  plants. 

1739  saw  the  publication  of  the  first  systematic 
enumeration  of  North  American  plants,  edited 
by  Gronovius  at  Leyden,  Holland,  to  which  I 
have  referred  in  the  life  of  John  Clayton. 

2  Peter  Collinson,  F.  R.  S.,  1693-1768. 


14  INTRODUCTION 

Men  in  Europe,  hearing  of  the  wonderful 
America  where  plants,  all  unnoticed,  were  grow- 
ing and  blowing  and  dying  and  living  again, 
ventured  upon  a  journey  fraught  with  peril  and 
discomfort  to  discover  these  treasures  for  them- 
selves. Thus,  Dr.  John  Mitchell,  who  came  in 
the  early  part  of  the  eighteenth  century,  was  able 
to  send  Collinson  "  a  paper  in  which  thirty  new 
genera  of  Virginia  plants  were  proposed,"  while 
Peter  Kalm,  a  Swedish  naturalist,  was  spending 
three  years  in  Pennsylvania  and  the  neighboring 
states  investigating,  and,  in  1753,  publishing  his 
Travels  in  North  America.  Dr.  Alex  Garden, 
another  European,  practising  in  South  Carolina, 
had  begun  his  long  and  useful  correspondence 
and  exchange  with  Linnaeus  and  other  leading 
botanists.  Dr.  Adam  Kuhn,  of  Philadelphia, 
was  probably  the  first  professor  of  botany  in 
America  (appointed  1768),  and  Humphry  Mar- 
shall founded  the  second  botanic  garden,  1773, 
in  West  Bradford,  Pennsylvania.  His  Arbustum 
Americanum  (on  title-page  erroneously  "  Arbus- 
trum  "),  published  in  1785,  is  our  first  botanical 
work  by  a  native  American.  I  own  a  first 
edition  of  this  in  its  stout  grey  paper  cover 
and  with  its  long  title,  and  a  note  on  the 
last  page  saying  that  "  Boxes  of  seeds  and  grow- 
ing plants  ....  are  made  up  in  the  best  manner 
and  at  a  reasonable  rate  by  the  Author." 


CIOYFVLL   NEWESI 

out  of  the  nenfoundworld, 

wherein  arc  declared  the  rare  and 
fingular  venues  of  dfocrs  and  fundrie  j 

with  their  applications  ,  afwcttto  the  vfc 
tfPhtpckejtt  Chtntrgerj:  which  being  i»W, 
applwdjbringfuchprcfent  remedy  fdrJ 
alt  oifea&,  a^magfttme  alto; 
thcr  incredible  :  notwith- 

out,  to  be  true. 

Alfo  the  portratnrc  of  the  faydcl 

Hcrbe^very  aptly  defcribcd :  En- 

gltO^eD  b^  lohn  Framptoa 


footot. 


Imprinted  at  London  » in  Panics 

Churchyard  at  the  fignc  of  the  Qacncs  | 

Armct,  by  VTitium  Norton. 

'580.       _____ 


MONARDUS*  JOYFULL  NEWES 


INTRODUCTION  15 

Dr.  Schoepf,  a  German  physician,  who  spent 
some  years  here,  published  in  1787,  at  Erlangen, 
an  American  Materia  Medlca;  and  Dr.  Benja- 
min S.  Barton  followed  in  the  same  track  with  his 
collections  for  an  Essay  towards  a  Materia 
Medica  of  the  United  States,  in  1798,  and  an  Ele- 
mentary Botany,  1803;  and  Dr.  Jacob  Bigelow 
with  an  American  Medical  Botany,  1817. 

The  Flora  Caroliniana,  1788,  by  Thomas 
Walter  and  published  in  London,  came  be- 
tween the  latter  and  William  Bartram's  Travels 
through  North  and  South  Carolina,  etc.,  1791, 
first  editions  of  which  are  rare  and  costly. 

It  would  not  do  to  except  the  work  of  a 
travelled  Parisian,  Andre  Michaux,  who,  in 
1 80 1,  gave  us  his  His  to  ire  des  Chenes  de  I'Ame- 
rique  Septentrionale,  nor  the  younger  Michaux's 
magnificent  Histoire  des  Arbres  Forestiers  de 
lfAmerique  Septentrionale,  1810,  with  colored 
plates;  and  with  these  two  names  must  be 
bracketted  those  of  the  Rev.  Henry  Muhlenberg, 
of  Lancaster,  Pennsylvania,  who  made  a  fine 
Catalogue  of  the  hitherto  unknown  Plants  of 
North  America,  1813,  and  Frederick  Pursh,  the 
English  botanist,  who  published  his  Flora 
Americae  Septentrionalis,  1814. 

About  this  date,  and  shortly  after,  came 
several  works  on  state  and  local  flora,  notably 
Bigelow's  Florula  Bostoniensis,  1814;  Stephen 

1 


1 6  INTRODUCTION 

Elliott's  Sketch  of  the  Botany  of  South  Carolina 
and  Georgia,  1816;  Dr.  W.  P.  C.  Barton's  Phila- 
delphia Flora,  1818;  and  Dr.  John  Torrey's 
Catalogue  of  Plants  growing  within  Thirty  Miles 
of  the  City  of  New  York,  1819,  a  collaborated 
work.  The  year  before  had  seen  the  birth  of 
Thomas  NuttaH's  Genera  of  North  American 
Plants,  an  epoch-making  volume. 

Dr.  W.  P.  C.  Barton,  again,  in  the  same  year, 
feeds  the  botanical  flame  with  a  Flora  of  North 
America  including  original  painted  drawings. 
"  This,"  says  Darlington,  "  though  entirely  with- 
out method,  was  tolerably  well  executed  and  ex- 
tended to  three  volumes  quarto,  when  it  was  dis- 
continued." Torrey,  also,  in  1824,  left  a  useful 
paper  partly  incomplete — his  Flora  of  the  North- 
ern and  Middle  Sections  of  the  United  States — 
but  that  on  The  Rocky  Mountain  Plants,  1826, 
the  first  American  specimen  of  a  regular  Flora 
arranged  according  to  the  Natural  System, 
was  "  indeed  an  admirable  performance."  The 
modest  bibliographer,  William  Darlington,  then 
adds,  without  a  comment,  his  own  Florula  Ces- 
trica,  1826,  and  goes  on  to  speak  of  some  articles 
in  the  tenth  volume  of  the  American  Journal 
of  Science  by  Dr.  Lewis  C.  Beck,  Contributions 
toward  the  Botany  of  the  States  of  Illinois  and 
Missouri,  1826,  then  breaks  into  warm  praise 
of  Sir  William  Hooker's  Flora  Boreali-Ameri- 
cana,  1829-1840,  with  its  238  quarto  plates. 


INTRODUCTION  IJ 

Two  more  Flora  now  appear,  the  Prodromus 
Florae  Columbianae  of  Dr.  J.  A.  Brereton,  1830, 
and,  shortly  after,  Dr.  C.  W.  Short's  paper, 
Florula  Lexingtoniensis,  these  heralding  a  bigger 
piece  of  work  by  Beck  on  Botany  of  the  Northern 
and  Middle  States,  1833.  The  Rev.  L.  D.  von 
Schweinitz  followed  with  an  elaborate  paper  on 
Synopsis  of  North  American  Fungi,  1834,  and 
the  year  was  also  notable  by  the  fact  that  Dr.  Asa 
Gray  issued  his  first  paper,  A  Monograph  of 
North  American  Rhynchosporae.  Dr.  John  L. 
Riddell  published  his  Synopsis  of  the  Flora  of  the 
Western  States  in  1835,  Gray  appearing  again, 
this  time  with  Dr.  John  Torrey,  to  rejoice  the 
student  with  their  Elements  of  Botany,  1836,  fol- 
lowed in  1838  by  a  work  which  became  a  stand- 
ard authority,  the  Flora  of  North  America.  In 
between  these  two  books  came  Gray's  Revision 
of  the  North  American  Melanthaceae,  Darling- 
ton's Flora  Cestrica  and  Dr.  W.  E.  A.  Aikin's 
Catalogue  of  Phaenogamous  Plants  and  Ferns 
Growing  in  the  Vicinity  of  Baltimore. 

Dr.  George  Engelmann  is  the  next  botanist  on 
the  list,  with  his  Monograph  of  the  North  Ameri- 
can Cuscutineae,  1842,  Torrey  pressing  on  behind 
in  1843  with  "  two  ponderous  quarto  volumes, 
embellished  with  161  colored  plates "  on  the 
Flora  of  the  State  of  New  York.  Dr.  Alvan  W. 
Chapman  made  a  useful  List  of  Plants  growing 


1 8  INTRODUCTION 

in  the  Vicinity  of  Quincy,  Florida,  and  Gray, 
with  W.  S.  Sullivant,  published  a  beautiful  little 
work  on  the  Mosses  of  the  Alleghanies,  both 
works  coming  out  in  1846. 

Pioneer  work  has  been  shown  making  rapid 
advances  into  volumes  even  now  esteemed  as 
classics.  Every  botanist  uses  Gray's  Manual  of 
Botany,  1848,  which  has  gone  through  so  many 
editions,  and  some  may  be  fortunate  enough  to 
possess  a  first  edition  of  his  first  volume  of  Genera 
Florae  Americae  Boreali-orientalisf  Illustrata, 
1848,  "designed  to  illustrate  by  figures  and 
analyses,  the  genera  of  the  plants  of  the  United 
States." 

It  has  been  difficult  not  to  write  also  concerning 
English  medical  botanists  whose  scientific  and 
social  life  touched  so  closely  on  that  of  congenial 
fellow-workers  in  America.  The  names  of  two 
men,  John  Coakley  Lettsom  (1744-1815)  and 
John  Fothergill  (1712-1780),  figure  constantly 
in  the  records  of  our  early  medical  colleges,  and 
in  the  correspondence  of  our  pioneer  botanists. 
Fothergill  was  constantly  consulted  as  to  the 
choice  of  books  to  be  sent  over  here,  and  gave 
generously  to  any  doctor  who  coveted  the  speci- 
mens in  his  botanical  garden.  "  The  younger 
Linnaeus  distinguished  a  plant  of  the  class  Poly- 
andria  digynia,  natural  order  Hamamelaceae,  by 
the  name  of  Fothergilla  "  (Darlington) ,  and  was 


JOHN   FOTHERGILL,   M.  D.,    F.  R.  S. 

1712-1780 
(From  a  bust  belonging  to  Dr.  Lettsom) 


DRUGGIST'S    SHOP    IN    WHITECHAPEL,    HIGH    STREET,    WHERE 
"  LETTSOM'S  PILLS  "  ARE  STILL  SOLD 


INTRODUCTION  19 

intimate  with  Lettsom,  who  began  his  medical 
work  under  Fothergill,  and  like  him,  spent  many 
pleasant  hours  in  writing  to  Humphry  Marshall 
and  John  Bartram  in  Pennsylvania.  Lettsom 
had  a  genus  (Lettsomia)  named  after  him.  I 
had  the  good  fortune  to  find  in  Whitechapel 
High  Street,  London,  a  little  druggist's  shop 
where  "  Lettsom's  Pills  "  are  still  sold,  and  the 
proprietor  gave  me  one  of  the  original  advertise- 
ments, which  he  had  found  on  a  street  vendor's 
barrow  one  Saturday  night,  also  allowing  me  to 
get  a  picture  of  Lettsom's  house  near  London 
from  an  old  engraving  hanging  in  his  back 
parlor. 

The  English  names  at  this  time  crowd  fast,  and 
folios  of  retrospective  writing  would  not  do  them 
justice;  so,  leaving  the  pioneers,  I  pass  on  to  a 
curious  field  of  inquiry — the  personal  nomen- 
clature of  plants. 

Distinct  epochs  of  thought  concerning  the  pre- 
eminence of  tutelar  gods,  the  merits  of  sovereigns 
and  saints  and  scientists  in  the  mind  of  botanists, 
can  be  traced  in  plant  nomenclature.  Narcissus 
and  Hyacinth  are  dear  and  familiar.  Of  Nar- 
cissus, son  of  Cephissus  and  Lirope  of  Bceotia, 
it  was  foretold  that  he  should  live  happily  until 
he  saw  his  own  face.  One  day,  heated  with  hunt- 
ing, he  came  to  drink  at  a  stream  and  saw  his  own 
reflection.  After  this  he  pined  away  and  was 


20  INTRODUCTION 

changed  into  a  flower;  when  the  Naiads  sought 
his  body 

"  Instead  whereof  a  yellow  flower  was  found, 
With  tufts  of  white  about  the  button  crown'd." 

Hyacinth  shared  a  like  fate:  the  beautiful  son 
of  Amyclas,  King  of  Amyclae  in  Laconia,  and 
Diomede,  he  was  killed  through  jealousy  by 
Apollo  while  the  two  were  playing  at  quoits  on 
the  banks  of  the  Eurotas.  From  his  blood  the 
god  caused  the  hyacinth  to  spring,  bearing  on  its 
petals  the  exclamation  Ai  (woe!). 

Artemisia  bears  one  of  the  names  of  Diana, 
who  was  specially  venerated  of  young  girls,  who 
sacrificed  their  hair  to  her  before  marriage.  She 
was  equally  renowned  for  healing  and  for  swift 
killing,  and  found  the  properties  of  the  Artemisia 
and  gave  it  to  her  devotees  to  alleviate  menstrual 
pain.  The  leaves  of  this  plant  are  still  gathered 
and  dried  for  this  purpose  by  the  peasants  in 
France  and  Algeria. 

The  Telephium  is  called  after  Telephus,  King 
of  Mysia,  son  of  Hercules  and  Auge,  but  any 
direct  connection  is,  apparently,  undiscoverable; 
and  the  genus  Euphorbia  was  so  called — some 
aver — by  Linnaeus,  after  Euphorbus,  physician 
to  Juba  II,  King  of  Mauritania,  circa  B.  C.  19; 
but  Salmasius  (1588-1653),  a  French  botanist, 
mentions  the  name,  so  Linnaeus  could  not  have 
been  the  sponsor. 


INTRODUCTION  21 

Our  pretty  little  "  blue-eyed  gentian,"  which 
"  lifts  its  fringed  lids  to  heaven,"  takes  its  name 
from  Gentius,  King  of  Illyria,  who  first  experi- 
enced the  virtues  of  the  plant,  and  Eupatorium 
Pliny  gives  as  the  cognomen  of  Mithridates  (132- 
63  B.  C),  King  of  Pontus,  who  discovered  its 
virtues. 

Saints  came  in  for  their  full  share  of  floral 
children;  this  naming  probably  arose  in  days 
when,  from  the  monastery  gardens,  plants  were 
gathered  to  concoct  the  gruesome  mixtures  ad- 
ministered by  priestly  hands  to  the  sick  poor. 
Herb  St.  Anthony,  St.  John's  Wort,  St.  Christo- 
pher's Herb,  St.  Ignatius'  Beans,  St.  Martin's 
Herb  are  some,  while  more  are  given  by  Jean 
Bauhin  in  De  Plantis  a  Divis  Sanctisve  Nomen 
habentibus,  1591. 

The  endurance  of  flower  and  tree  as  a  monu- 
ment seems  to  have  occurred  to  most  botanists, 
especially  in  the  days  when  might  was  right  and 
the  tenure  of  land,  houses,  and  life  itself  ex- 
tremely uncertain.  The  little  annual,  bearing  a 
fellow  scientist's  name,  knew  no  destruction  in  its 
perpetual  renewal.  The  huge  tree,  victim  of 
storm  and  fire  and  man's  desire,  was  safe  in  plan- 
tation over  half  a  world,  and  the  delicate  Spring 
Beauty  (Claytonia)  would  spring  half  shyly,  half 
mockingly  in  the  neglected  graveyard  where 
proud  family  monuments  sunk  lop-sidedly  into 


22  INTRODUCTION 

the  graves  of  the  men  they  were  intended  to 
commemorate  forever. 

Thus,  in  letters  of  Conrad  Gesner,8  the  Swiss 
naturalist,  it  is  shown  that,  had  he  lived  to  finish 
his  Histoire  des  Plantes,  he  would  have  perpetu- 
ated the  names  of  many  friends,  as  he  asked  them 
— Bauhin  among  the  number — to  choose  among 
his  newly  found  plants  for  a  namesake  or  to  allow 
him  the  pleasure  of  choosing  for  them. 

Clusius,4  himself  known  as  Clusia  (Plumier), 
"  called  the  Contrayerva  of  the  shops B  Drakena 
in  honor  of  his  great  friend  Sir  Francis  Drake," 
and  for  a  long  time  mutual  compliments  of  this 
kind  followed,  Tournefort,6  Plumier,7  and  Peti- 
ver,8  being  specially  given  to  the  practice.  In 
Plumier's  Nova  Plantarum  Genera,  1703,  giving 
a  description  of  106  new  genera  he  names  some 
50  after  well-known  botanists,  seven  of  them  Eng- 
lish: Gerardia,  Morisonia,  Parkinsonia,  Peti- 
veria,  Plukenetia,  Sloanea,  Turnera. 

John  Lindley,  writing  in  his  Vegetable  King- 
dom (1846),  remarks  that:  "  Since  the  days  of 

8  Conrad  Gesner  (1516-1565).    Opera  Eotantca,  1753-1759. 

4  Charles  de  PEcluse,  1526-1609,  celebrated  doctor  and  botanist. 

6  Dorstenia  Contrayerva.     (Used  to  be  mixed  with  crab's  eyes,  as  a 
remedy.) 

"Joseph  Pitton  de  Tournefort,  1656-1708,  royal  botanist,  1683. 

7  Charles  Plumier,   1646-1704,  scientist  and  botanist.     Description 
des  Plantes  de  L'Amerique,  1695. 

8  James  Petiver,  M.  D.,  1660-1718,  doctor  and  botanist.  Pteriaraphia 
Americana  .  .  .  .  ,  1713, 


INTRODUCTION  23 

Linnaeus,  who  was  the  great  reformer  of  this  part 
of  Natural  History,  a  host  of  strange  names,  in- 
harmonious, sesquipedalian,  or  barbarous,  have 
found  their  way  into  botany,  and,  by  the  stern  but 
almost  indispensable  laws  of  priority,  are  re- 
tained there.  It  is  full  time,  indeed,  that  some  stop 
should  be  put  to  this  torrent  of  savage  sounds, 
when  we  find  such  words  as  Calucechinus,  Oresi- 
genesa,  Finaustrina,  Kraschenninikovia,  Gra- 
venhorstia,  Andrezejofskya,  Mielichoferia,  Mo- 
nactineirma,  Pleuroschismatypus,  and  hundreds 
of  others  like  them  thrust  into  the  annals  of 
botany  without  even  an  apology.  If  such  intol- 
erable words  are  to  be  used,  they  should  surely 
be  reserved  for  plants  as  repulsive  as  themselves, 
and,  instead  of  libeling  races  so  fair  as  flowers, 
or  so  noble  as  trees,  they  ought  to  be  confined  to 
Slimes,  Mildews,  Blights,  and  Toadstools.  The 
Author  has  been  anxious  to  do  something  to  alle- 
viate this  grievous  evil,  which,  at  least,  need  not 
be  permitted  to  eat  into  the  healthy  form  of 
botany  clothed  in  the  English  language."  And 
Gray,  writing  to  George  Engelmann  in  1843, 
says :  "  I  agree  with  you  generally  in  the  impro- 
priety of  too  much  multiplying  names  of  species 
after  the  collectors,  etc.,  yet  I  think  these  are  good 
names,  easily  remembered  and  particularly  ad- 
visable in  very  large  genera.  My  practicable  rule 
is  to  name  such  species  after  the  discoverer,  etc., 


24  INTRODUCTION 

if  I  cannot  find  any  really  pertinent  characteristic 
name  unoccupied." 

From  this  time  on,  the  complimentary  naming 
of  plants  seems  universal,  Linnaeus '  taking  the 
lead  in  amical  floral  nomenclature.  When  he 
had  as  guest  or  disciple  any  one  heartily  and 
studiously  interested  in  botany,  he  often  dedi- 
cated a  new  genus  or  species  to  him.  Adam 
Kuhn,  his  pupil  and  America's  first  professor  of 
botany,  getting  the  Kuhnia  Eupatorloides. 

The  names  come  crowding  on — Dahl,  Lobel, 
Fuchs,10  Wistar,  Garden,  Bauhin,11  Magnol,13 
Grew,13  Gloxin,  Fothergill,  Lettsom,  Kamel,14  etc. 
— and  sometimes  proper  names  with  prefix  or 
suffix  evoked  angry  expostulation  from  botanical 
writers  who  objected  to  Vaseyanthus,  Pringleo- 
phytum,  Neonelsonia  and  Paleohlllla!  "  It  was 
Dr.  Otto  Kuntze,"  says  Professor  Pollard,  "  who 
astonished  the  world  and  carried  off  the  palm  in 
this  class  by  the  establishment  of  such  genera  as 
'  Sirhookera'  and  '  Peckifungus.' "" 

9  Carl  Linnaeus,  M.  D.,  Sweden,  1707-1778.    ("  Carl  von  Linne," 
after  1757.) 

10  Leonard  Fuchs,  M.  D.,  Swabia,  1501-1566. 

11  Caspar  Bauhin,  M.  D.,  Basle,  1560-1624. 

"Prof.  Pierre   Magnol   de   Montpellier,    1638-1715.     Brought  the 
Magnolia  to  France. 

13  Nehemiah  Grew,  M.  D.,  London,  1641-1712. 

14  Geo.  Joseph  Kamel  or  Camellus,  1661-1706.    A  Moravian  Jesuit, 
botanical  traveller  in  Asia.     He  brought  the  Camelia  japonica  to 
France. 

16  Science,  August  23,  1911. 


LINNAEUS 
(From  a  painting  in  the  Royal  Academy  of  Science,  Stockholm) 


INTRODUCTION  2£ 

It  might  also  be  questioned  whether  it  is  fair 
to  burden  any  plant  with  such  a  discordant  name 
asEschscholtzia  (Chamisso).18 

Linnaeus  complains  "  that  "  Botanists  seem  (to 
me)  never  to  have  touched  upon  nomenclature 

as  a  study Nothing  is  more  certain  than 

that  the  whole  stock  of  specific  names  are  erro- 
neous " ;  and  Professor  Pollard 18  gives  some 
names  which  fail  to  be  complimentary  because 
misspelt:  Wisteria-Wister  (Nuttall),  Leche- 
naultia  "-Leschenault "  (Brown),  Scoria  for  Hi- 
coria*  (Rafinesque). 

"  The  credit  of  having  reformed  the  nomen- 
clature of  genera  by  the  exclusion  of  names  made 
of  two  distinct  words  has  been  given  to  Linnaeus, 
but  Brunfels28  had  inaugurated  the  reform  220 
years  before  Linnaeus  published  his  Philosophia 
Botanica." 

In  early  days  plants  sent  from  America  evoked 
pretty  letters  from  European  botanists  asking 
permission  to  name  a  genus  after  the  sender,  and 

10Johann  F.  Eschscholtz,  1793-1831,  M.  D.  and  botanist. 

17  Correspondence  of  Linnaeus,  vol.  ii,  p.  258. 

18  Op.  cit. 

"Lindley    (The  Vegetable  Kingdom}    has   the  correct  spelling — 
Leschenault.     (Brown.) 
80  A  French  botanist  and  traveller. 

21  Barton  has  Scoria  and  Hicoria,  two  plants. 

22  Otto  Brunfels,  M.  D.,  in  Berne,  1500-1534. 

23  E.  L.  Greene.    Landmarks  of  Botanical  History,  1909. 


26  INTRODUCTION 

such  men  as  Bartram,  Marshall  or  Garden  in 
America  would  frequently  despatch  a  plant  to 
which  they  had  already  given  the  name  of  their 
European  co-workers  in  the  botanical  field;  so 
the  study  of  plant  nomenclature,  even  during  one 
short  half-century,  yields  a  delightful  harvest 
concerning  the  intimate  life  of  scientists  on  two 
continents. 

One  of  the  first  reuniting  links  between  Eng- 
land and  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  was  a  floral  one. 
Confronted  at  the  outset  with  epidemics  inci- 
dental to  acclimatization  and  poor  sanitation,  the 
few  doctors  in  America  eagerly  scanned  the  pon- 
derous herbals  they  had  brought  over  and 
searched  the  country  in  hopes  of  finding  the  well- 
known  febrifuge  and  other  remedies  they  had 
used  in  the  old  country.  Ship's  captains  were 
given  letters  to  friends  asking  for  plants  and  seeds 
required,  but  these,  received  after  interminable 
delays,  had  to  be  very  carefully  tended.  In 
searching  for  remedies,  many  new  and  wonderful 
plants  were  discovered  and  sent  as  specimens  or 
exchanges  to  the  great  European  botanists,  arous- 
ing their  eager  interest  in  the  new  country  and  a 
great  desire  to  have  such  plants  in  the  botanic 
gardens  then  flourishing. 

Boerhaave  *  at  Leyden  was  in  the  habit  of  mak- 
ing large  exchanges,  and  Dr.  Fothergill,28  who 

24  Hermann  Boerhaave,  M.  D.,  1668-1738. 
86  John  Fothergill,  M.  D.,  1712-1780. 


HERMANN   BOERHAAVE 
(From   an  engraving,    1788) 


INTRODUCTION  27 

sent  us  the  anatomic  pictures  in  the  museum  of 
the  Pennsylvania  Hospital,  had  4000  plants  in  his 
botanical  garden  near  London.  Dr.  John  Mitch- 
ell, who  came  over  to  Virginia  in  1700,  sent 
plants  to  Linnaeus  and  to  Bartram,  and  in  1763 
refers  to  the  "  white  double  daffodil "  brought 
over  by  the  first  settlers.  American  oaks  planted 
centuries  ago  still  flourish  in  England  while  Wis- 
teria *  and  "  Virginia  creeper  "  still  climb  over 
the  walls  of  hundreds  of  houses  in  foggy  London. 
Sponsorial  compliments  abounded  in  floral  god- 
children such  as  the  Mitchella,  Gardenia  and 
Bigclowui,  which  were  as  tenderly  reared  in 
Europe  as  were  the  Boerhaavia,  Meadia*  and 
Lobelia  in  America. 

There  were  anxious  periods  of  waiting,  for  a 
voyage  of  seventy  days  or  more  wrought  havoc 
with  plants,  insects  and  reptiles.  Even  war  did 
not  upset  botanical  sympathies,  and  the  published 
correspondence  in  times  of  warfare  and  Indian 
raids  shows  chiefly  anxiety  lest,  a  ship  being  cap- 
tured by  the  enemy,  seeds  and  plants  should  be 
thrown  overboard.  Michaux,"  the  great  botanist, 
speaks  of  the  French  Revolution  (1789)  merely 
as  a  hindrance  to  his  gathering  specimens  abroad. 

88  Perhaps  our  American  Wisteria  is  cultivated  in  England,  but  the 
common  species  there,  as  here,  are  of  Chinese  or  Japanese  origin. 
(Greene.) 

"Richard  Mead,  M.  D.,  London,  1673-1754. 

28  Andre*  Michaux,  botanist  and  explorer,  1746-1802. 


28  INTRODUCTION 

John  Bartram,  in  1763,  laments  that  a  govern- 
ment scheme  of  exploring  Louisiana  cannot  be 
carried  out  because  the  scientists  would  be  ex- 
posed to  "  the  greatest  savage  cruelty  of  the  gun, 
tomahawk,  and  torture  "  by  the  Indians.  He 
did  venture  once  with  a  guide,  but  says,  "  An 
Indian  met  me  and  pulled  off  my  hat  in  a  great 
passion  and  chawed  it  all  around  to  shew  me  how 
he  would  eat  me  if  I  came  again." 

There  was  sometimes,  however,  bloodless  war- 
fare in  the  botanical  camp  in  disputation  over  the 
alleged  medicinal  merits  of  certain  plants.  Law- 
rence van  de  Veer,  of  New  Jersey  (about  1796), 
cures  400  hydrophobia  patients  with  the  Scu- 
tellaria  lateriflora.  Dr.  Lyman  Spalding"  first 
praises  it,  then  later  wishes  "  to  be  stricken  from 
the  list  of  believers,"  while  Barton  of  Philadel- 
phia condemns  him  for  believing  in  it  at  all.  Dr. 
John  Tennant,80  an  enthusiastic  botanist  of  Vir- 
ginia, swears  by  Seneca  snakeroot  for  pleurisy, 
against  all  disputants.  The  experimenter  and 
botanist,  Dr.  Samuel  Thomson,  later  uses  Lobelia 
inflata  in  his  "  Thomsonian  System  "  for  nearly 
every  evil,  and  creates  endless  opposition.  But 
the  search  for  remedies  was  keen  in  days  when 
malaria  and  dysentery  ravaged  whole  towns  and 
paralyzed  industry. 

89  Lyman  Spalding,  M.  D.,  New  Hampshire,  1775-1821. 

90  John  Tennant,  M.  D.,  Virginia,  circa  1736. 


INTRODUCTION  29 

It  was  tempting  to  linger  over  the  biographies 
of  these  early  botanists,  but  my  little  oeuvre 
d'amour  was  only  to  include  the  floral  god- 
parents; otherwise  some  two  or  three  volumes 
would  hardly  have  sufficed. 

The  first  botanist  I  would  introduce  to  you  is 
Michel  S.  Sarrazin. 


MICHEL  S.  SARRAZIN 


Sarracenia  purpurea  —  TOURNEFORT 

Canada  and  the  United  States  join  hands  in 
the  order  Sarraceniaceae,  the  well-known  Pitcher 
Plants,  Dr.  Sarrazin  of  Quebec  gathering  the 
"  side-saddle  flower  "  which  flourishes  in  the 
bogs  of  North  America,  and  Dr.  Darlington  be- 
ing commemorated  in  the  Darlingtonia,  of  Cali- 
fornia. 

There  seems  to  be  some  confusion  among  the 
botanists  as  to  which  Sarrazin  the  plant  Sarra- 
cenia was  named  for.  It  was  first  named  and 
described  by  J.  B.  Tournefort  in  Institutiones  rei 
herbariae,  second  edition,  Paris,  1700,  thus: 
"  Sarracenia  canadensis  foliis  cavis  et  auritis. 
Sarracenam  appelavi  a  Clarissimo  D.  Sarrazin, 
Medicinae  Doctore,  Anatomico  et  Botanico 
Regio  insigni,  qui  eximiam  hanc  plantam  pro 
summa  qua  me  complectitur  bene  volentia  e 
Canada  misit."  Linnaeus,  in  his  Genera  Plan- 
tarum,  1753,  established  the  genus,  ascribing  it 
to  Tournefort. 

No  initials  are  given  to  this  Sarrazin,  and 
many  have  assumed  that  a  Dr.  Jean  Antoine 


32       SOME  AMERICAN  MEDICAL  BOTANISTS 

Sarrazin  is  meant.  But  Jean  Antoine  was  born 
in  Lyons,  France,  April  25,  1547,  and  died  there 
November  29,  1598.  As  he  went  out  of  the  world 
ten  years  before  Tournef ort  came  into  it,  he  mani- 
festly did  not  send  the  flower  to  Tournefort. 

Michel  S.  Sarrazin,  undoubtedly  the  real 
sponsor,  was  both  physician  and  naturalist.  Born 
in  1659,  he  went  to  Canada  in  1685,  and  becoming 
noted  both  as  doctor  and  scientist,  he  had  the 
honor  of  being  elected  member  of  the  French 
Academy.  Moreover,  several  years  after  his 
arrival  in  Canada  he  was  appointed  King's  Physi- 
cian for  the  country,  the  only  bearer  of  that  title 
in  all  New  France.  His  salary  was  a  bare  600 
livres,  without  recompense  from  his  patients. 

It  is  a  thousand  pities  that  we  have  so  few  data 
touching  this  interesting  life.  About  1712  he 
married  Marie  Anne,  the  daughter  of  Francois 
Hazeur,  fils,  and  had  seven  children.  He  died  in 
Quebec,  September,  1734,  and  his  widow  re- 
ceived a  pension  from  the  King;  his  sons,  who 
were  regarded  as  proteges  of  the  State,  were  then 
studying  medicine  in  Paris. 


SARRACENIA    PURPUREA.       COMMON    PITCHER    PLANT 
(From  the  J.  Horace  McFarland  Nurseries) 


JOHN  MITCHELL 

i68o?-i768 
Mltchella  repens — LINNAEUS 

Much  research  into  old  biographical  and  bo- 
tanical works  resulted  in  failure  to  find  in  any  de- 
tails of  John  Mitchell's  early  life.  Scotch  by 
name,  he  may  also  have  been  a  reservist  of  an 
ultra-Scotch  type  and  told  little  of  his  life  to  his 
American  friends.  Three  letters  in  the  Corre- 
spondence of  Linnaeus  show  him  to  have  been  a 
fellow  of  the  Royal  Society,  and,  piecing  other 
items  together,  it  is  certain  that  he  was  born  and 
educated  in  England  and  did  take  a  medical 
degree. 

About  1700  he  came  over  to  America,  settling 
on  the  Rappahannock  River,  near  Richmond, 
Virginia,  being  one  of  the  earliest  chemists  and 
physicists  in  this  country.  It  is  assumed  that  he 
practised  medicine,  and  the  amount  of  writing  on 
botanical  and  other  subjects  may  have  been  the 
result  of  unusually  healthy  neighbors  and  much 
leisure.  His  Dlssertatio  brevis  de  Principils  Bo- 
tanicorum  was  dated  Virginia,  1738,  and  dedi- 
cated to  Sir  Hans  Sloane.  Three  years  later 

33 


34      SOME  AMERICAN  MEDICAL  BOTANISTS 

appeared  his  Nova  Plantarum  Genera,  dedicated 
to  Peter  Collinson,1  both  of  which  papers  were 
printed  at  Nuremberg,  1769.  Collinson  was  very 
keen  on  making  exchanges  of  natural  history 
specimens  with  Americans,  and  strongly  urged 
them  to  cultivate  silk,  flax,  hemp  and  wine.  Mit- 
chell must  have  enjoyed  having  such  an  interested 
friend  in  the  old  country,  and  would  anxiously 
await  from  him  the  opinion  expressed  by  the 
Royal  Society  concerning  a  paper  on  The  Causes 
of  the  Different  Colours  of  People  in  Different 
Climates  (1743),  which  Collinson  was  to  read 
for  him,  in  1744.  The  paper  finally  appeared  in 
the  Society's  Philosophical  Transactions  (vol. 
xliii). 

However,  in  1746,  Mitchell  was  himself  in 
London.  He  had  had  a  bad  journey,  for  the  ship 
was  captured  by  Spanish  pirates,  and  Linnaeus, 
writing  to  Haller  (1746),  says:* 

"  All  the  plants  sent  me  from  New  York  have 
fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  Spaniards,  along  with 
those  that  Dr.  Mitchell  has  for  many  years  been 
collecting  in  Virginia.  He  himself  is  returned 
safe,  though  in  a  desperate  condition,  to  England. 

"  I  have  lost,  in  the  same  ship,  numerous  speci- 
mens and  descriptions  sent  by  Governor  Golden 
from  New  York." 

1  Peter  Collinson,  naturalist  and  antiquary,  1694-1763. 
*  Correspondence  of  Linnaeus,  vol.  ii. 


JOHN  MITCHELL  35 

Mitchell  himself,  writing  to  Linnaeus  from 
London,  1748,  tells  him:  "  I  should  have  been 
happy  to  send  you  a  few  plants  if  they  had  not 
been  so  much  damaged  by  pirates  as  well  as  in- 
jured by  their  sea  voyage,  so  that,  among  more 
than  a  thousand  specimens,  I  have  scarcely  a  per- 
fect flower. 

"  The  descriptions  I  drew  up,  of  new  genera  of 
plants,  have  been  sent  by  Mr.  Collinson  to  per- 
sons in  various  parts  of  Europe,  so  that  I  scarcely 
know  now  where  to  get  a  copy. 

"  Mr.  Trew,  to  whom  Mr.  Collinson  sent  a  few 
papers  of  mine,  informs  us  that  they  have  ap- 
peared in  the  last  volume  of  the  Nuremberg 
Transactions.  They  consist  of  a  dissertation  on 
a  new  botanical  principle  derived  from  the  sex- 
ual theory,  which,  I  think,  accords  with  your 
ideas,  and,  if  I  mistake  not,  our  systems  support 
each  other." 

On  the  i yth  and  24th  of  November,  1748,  he 
read  a  paper  before  the  Royal  Society  on  The 
Preparation  and  Use  of  Various  Kinds  of  Pot- 
Ash  (Phil.  Trans.,  xlv).  The  learned  gentlemen 
of  the  Society  were  quick  to  recognize  the  merits 
of  their  returned  countryman  and  made  him  a 
fellow  on  December  15  of  that  same  year.  He 
would,  doubtless,  spend  a  good  deal  of  his  time 
in  the  Botanical  Garden  at  Kew,  indeed,  would 
seem  to  have  lodged  nearby,  for  he  dates  a  paper 


36       SOME  AMERICAN   MEDICAL  BOTANISTS 

from  Kew,  1759,  written  for  the  Philosophical 
Transactions,  entitled,  A  Letter  Concerning  the 
Force  of  Electrical  Cohesion. 

Linnaeus  named  the  familiar  and  beautiful 
little  checkerberry,  Mitchella  repens,  after  him, 
and  kept  up  a  constant  and  affectionate  inter- 
change of  letters.  The  last  of  those  from  Mit- 
chell are  dated  1751,  one  to  Linnaeus,  one  to  Bar- 
tram,  and  this  date  would  make  one  conclude  that 
he  never  returned  to  America,  as  no  letters  seem 
extant  after  1751  from  the  new  country.  To  Bar- 
tram  he  says : 

"  I  have  had  so  much  business  of  that  kind 
(writing)  upon  my  hands  since  I  came  to  Eng- 
land, that  I  have  contracted  a  disorder  by  it, 
which  makes  me  unable  to  pursue  it  any  longer 
or  even  to  sit  down  to  write  a  letter,  especially  one 
that  requires  any  thought,  without  being  sensibly 
the  worse  for  it."  He  died  in  March,  1768, 
though  where  I  cannot  discover. 

There  is  some  more  of  his  work  which  ought  to 
be  mentioned,  notably,  A  Map  of  the  British  and 
French  Dominions  in  North  America,  London, 
1755,  which  is  said  to  "  mark  an  era  in  the  geog- 
raphy of  North  America,"  and  was  quoted  in 
boundary  negotiations.  A  French  copy  was  pub- 
lished at  Paris,  1756,  and  a  second  English  edition 
appeared  in  1757;  reprinted,  1782;  the  British 
Museum  is  the  fortunate  holder  of  copies.  His 


JOHN   MITCHELL  37 

Contest  in  America  between  Great  Britain  and 
France,  by  an  Impartial  Hand,  came  out  in  Lon- 
don, 1757,  also  The  Present  State  of  Great  Brit- 
ain and  North  America,  1767.  Among  his  MSS., 
found  after  death,  was  An  Account  of  the  Yellow 
Fever  which  prevailed  In  Virginia  In  1737, 
1741  and  1742,  in  letters  to  Cadwalader  Golden 
and  Franklin.  These  were  published,  with  the 
replies,  by  Rush  in  the  American  Medical  and 
Philosophical  Register,  vol.  iv. 

Amer.  Med.  Biog.    Thacher. 

Amer.  Med.  &  Philos.  Reg.,  vol.  iv. 

Stephen's  Diet,  of  National  Biog. 

Contributions  to  the  Annals  of  Medical  Progress.    J.  M.  Toner. 

Pulteney's  Progress  of  Botany,  vol.  ii. 

Gentleman's  Magazine,  1768. 


CADWALADER  GOLDEN 

1688-1776 
Coldenia  procumbens — LINNAEUS 

A  link  in  the  botanic  chain  is  a  young  Scotch 
doctor,  u  a  truly  great  philosopher  and  a  very 
great  and  ingenious  botanist,"  who  came  to  be 
Lieutenant  Governor  of  New  York.  This  was 
Cadwalader,  son  of  the  Rev.  Alexander  Golden, 
minister  in  Dunse,  near  Edinburgh,  born  Febru- 
ary 17,  1688. 

His  father,  probably  a  learned  and  leisured 
man,  personally  directed  the  boy's  education, 
then  sent  him  to  Edinburgh  University,  where 
he  graduated  M.  D.,  in  1705.  During  the  three 
following  years  he  devoted  his  attention  "  to 
medicine  and  mathematical  science " — in  the 
quiet  little  town  of  Dunse  I  should  imagine.  The 
news  which  came,  from  time  to  time,  of  William 
Penn's  colony  found  an  eager  hearkener  in  young 
Golden,  and  the  next  definite  information  is  that 
he  practised  successfully  in  Pennsylvania  from 
1708  to  1715. 

Possibly  about  this  time  he  recalled  the  great 
facilities  for  studying  and  gaining  experience  in 
surgical  work  which  existed  in  London  and  Edin- 


CADWALADER  GOLDEN 
(From  a  painting  in  the  possession  of  C.  D.  Golden) 


CADWALADER  GOLDEN  39 

burgh,  and  he  may  have  wanted  to  freshen  his 
wits  and  also  to  see  his  friends — one  friend  in 
particular,  Alice  Christie,  whom  he  married  the 
year  of  his  arrival  in  England,  at  Kelso,  Novem- 
ber n,  1715.  There  must  have  been  great  la- 
mentation in  the  families  of  Christie  and  Golden 
when,  the  following  year,  young  Cadwalader  de- 
cided to  return  to  America  and  take  his  Alice 
with  him.  Doubtless  he  also  took  cases  of  books, 
instruments  and  drugs  when  he  embarked  for  the 
tedious  voyage  of  some  months'  duration. 

While  in  London  he  was  introduced  to  Dr. 
Edmund  Halley,  who  was  so  impressed  with  a 
paper  Golden  had  written  on  Animal  Secretions 
that  he  had  him  read  it  before  the  Royal  Society, 
and  made  the  writer  acquainted  with  many  and 
learned  men,  who  became  his  good  friends  and 
correspondents. 

In  1718  he  settled  in  New  York,  but  soon 
ceased  to  practise  and  became  more  of  a  public 
character,  being  Surveyor-General  for  the  State 
in  1719  and  Lieutenant-Governor  in  1761.  Be- 
fore this  latter  appointment  he  obtained  a  patent 
for  a  tract  of  land  in  Orange  near  Newburgh, 
which  he  called  "  Coldengham."  Here  he  lived 
from  1728  to  1760,  and  in  New  York  City  from 
1760  to  1763  or  1764,  when  he  built  and  occu- 
pied a  large  house  on  Long  Island,  near  Flushing, 
until  his  death  on  September  28,  1776. 


40       SOME  AMERICAN   MEDICAL  BOTANISTS 

Colden's  public  duties  did  not  loosen  his  grip 
on  science.  Much  of  this  knowledge  was  used  in 
speech  and  by  pen  during  an  epidemic  of  fever 
( 1741-1742)  inNewYorkCity,  of  which  he  wrote 
an  account  inHosack  and  Francis' .Router,  vol.  i. 
He  loved  botany,  too,  and  from  Coldenham  came 
his  Plantae  Coldenghamiae  in  Provincia  Nove- 
boracensi  Americes  sponte  crescentes,  quas  ad  me- 
thodum  CLLinnaeiSexualem,anno  1742,  obser- 
vavit  Gadwalader  Golden.  Thacher  says  the  in- 
timacy with  Linnaeus  came  about  through  a 
paper  Golden  wrote  on  The  Virtues  of  the  Great 
Water  Dock. 

Linnaeus,  writing  to  Dr.  James  Lind  concern- 
ing oedematous  swellings  on  scorbutics  says :  * 

"  Nor  has  any  cure  been  found  for  this  state  of 
the  disease,  except  recently  in  the  root  of  the 
Water  Dock,  called  Herba  Britannica  (Rumex 
aquaticus),  which  I  have  introduced  on  the 
recommendation  of  your  countryman  Golden, 
who  was  taught  its  use  by  the  country  people  of 
New  York." 

When  Golden  became  acquainted  with  Lin- 
naeus' System,  he  became  even  more  zealously 
botanical.  He  introduced  it  into  America  a  few 
months  after  its  publication  in  Europe  and  sent 
Linnaeus  his  description  of  some  four  hundred 
American  plants,  which  was  published  in  his 

1  Correspondence  of  Linnaeus,  vol.  ii,  476. 


CADWALADER  GOLDEN  41 

A  eta  So  details  Regiae  Scientiarum  Upsaliensis, 


Linnaeus,  in  recognition  of  his  services,  called 
a  new  genus  of  plants  Goldenia,  though  a  prettier 
version  had  it  that  he  named  it  after  the  doctor's 
daughter,  Jane.  "  Not  only,"  says  Dr.  Garden, 
writing  to  Ellis,  in  1755,'  "  is  the  doctor  himself 
a  great  botanist,  but  his  lovely  daughter  is  greatly 
master  of  the  Linnaean  method  and  cultivates  it 
with  great  assiduity."  Ellis,  in  a  letter  to  Lin- 
naeus (1758),*  suggests  that  as  Miss  Golden  has 
drawn  and  described  400  plants  in  his  (Lin- 
naeus') method,  he  should  call  the  Helleborus 
trifolius,  Coldenella,  and:  "You  have  plainly 
shewed  me  that  the  Fibraurea  of  Miss  Golden  is 
already  described.  I  shall  let  her  know  what 
civil  things  you  say  of  her.  Her  Christian  name 
is  Jane." 

Colden's  largest  work  was  his  History  of  the 
Five  Indian  Nations  of  Canada,  1727.  The 
Cause  of  Gravitation,  once  an  all-absorbing  sub- 
ject with  him,  resulted  in  his  writing  on  it,  and 
this  paper,  much  enlarged,  was  re-published  in 
1751  as  The  Principles  of  Action  in  Matter.  He 
wrote  also  an  Essay  on  the  Cause  and  Remedy 
of  the  Yellow  Fever,  so  fatal  at  New  York  in 
I?43  and  A  Treatise  on  Electricity.  His  friend- 

a  Correspondence  of  Linnaeus,  vol.  ii,  p.  343. 
9  Correspondence  of  Linnaeus,  vol.  i,  pp.  95,  98. 


42       SOME  AMERICAN   MEDICAL  BOTANISTS 

ship  with  Franklin  lent  keener  interest  to  the 
electricity,  as  they  corresponded  regularly  on 
this  subject.  Franklin,  in  describing  the  Ameri- 
can Philosophical  Society  to  a  friend,  mentions 
Golden  as  its  originator. 

He  left  many  unpublished  papers  on  mete- 
orology, on  vital  movement,  the  properties  of 
light,  the  intelligence  of  animals  and  the  ad- 
mixture of  metals.  Colden's  son  became  a  dis- 
tinguished mathematician  and  natural  philoso- 
pher, and  his  grandson  a  senator  to  the  State  of 
New  York.  Of  the  learned  Miss  Jane  I  find  no 
further  details. 

Writing  to  him  on  June  26,  1743,  Bartram 
says : 4 
"Friend  Golden: 

"  I  have  lately  received  order  to  travel  to 
gather  the  seeds  of  the  Balm  of  Gilead  and  other 
species  of  evergreens.  The  Duke  of  Norfolk 
hath  subscribed  twenty  guineas,  the  Duke  of 
Richmond  and  two  other  gentlemen  fifteen  more. 
.  .  .  .  I  am  now  providing  for  a  journey  up  Sus- 
quehanna  with  our  interpreter,  in  order  to  intro- 
duce a  peaceable  understanding  between  the 
Virginians  and  the  Five  Nations." 

But  the  Indians  hindered  many  a  botanical 
journey,  for  Golden,  on  the  2jth  of  January,  1747, 
tells  Bartram: 

4  Memorials  of  Bartram  and  Marshall.    Darlington. 


CADWALADER  GOLDEN  43 

"  All  my  botanical  pleasures  have  been  stopped 
this  summer,  while  I  was  at  Albany.  We  durst 
not  go  without  the  fortification  without  a  guard 
for  fear  of  having  our  scalps  taken ;  and  while  I 
was  at  New  York  I  was  perpetually  in  company 
or  upon  business,  so  that  I  shall  be  a  very  dull 

correspondent I  expected  to  have  heard 

from  Gronovius  by  a  ship  expected  from  Amster- 
dam and  by  which  I  wrote  to  him ;  but  I  do  not 
hear  that  she  is  arrived.  I  sowed  some  of  the 
seed  of  the  Arbor  vitae,  but  it  failed  as  yours  did. 
Perhaps  they  may  germinate  next  year." 

Amer.  Med.  and  Philos.  Reg.,  vol.  i. 

Diet,  of  National  Biog.    Stephens. 

Memorials  of  Bartram  and  Marshall.    W.  Darlington. 

Smith's  Corres.  of  Linnaeus. 

Drake's  Diet,  of  Amer.  Biog. 

Bancroft's  Hist,  of  the  United  States  of  America. 

Nichol's  Literary  Anecdotes. 


JOHN  CLAYTON 

1 693-1 773 
Claytonia  Virginica— GRONOVIUS 

John  Clayton,  the  botanist,  must  not  be  con- 
founded with  a  naturalist  of  the  same  name  and 
period,  though  more  than  likely  he  is  a  connec- 
tion. The  latter  was  rector  of  Crofton,  Wake- 
field,  in  Yorkshire,  England,  whence  nearly  all 
the  Claytons  came,  but  was  something  more  than 
a  theologian,  as,  after  journeying  to  America, 
he  communicated  the  result  of  his  natural  history 
gleanings  to  the  Royal  Society  of  London  in  two 
papers  entitled  An  Account  of  Several  Observ- 
ables  in  Virginia  and  in  his  Voyage  hither,  by 
John  Clayton,  and  Some  More  Observable* 
(Phil.  Trans.,  1688).  D.  Waterson  found  these 
papers  in  a  small  second-hand  bookstore  in  Lon- 
don and  secured  them  for  12  cents.  Later  I  noted 
that  Quaritch  was  asking  $14!  Crofton  Church, 
where  John  the  divine  officiated,  was  built  in 
1437-1467,  and  is  still  standing.  My  friend,  Dr. 
Sykes,  who  lives  near  it,  had  a  photograph  taken 
for  me. 

The  John  Clayton  after  whom  our  beautiful 
little  modest  Claytonia  ("  Spring  Beauty  ")  was 


CROFTON   CHURCH,    YORKSHIRE,   ENGLAND 


JOHN  CLAYTON  45 

named  entered  this  life  in  Fulham,  London. 
Barton  (Med.  and  Phys.  Jour.,  vol.  ii)  says  he 
came  to  Virginia  with  his  father  when  the  latter 
was  Attorney-General  of  Virginia.  Other  biog- 
raphers x  state  that  he  joined  his  father  in  1705. 

Where  he  studied  or  whether  he  ever  took  his 
M.  D.  degree  seems  not  ascertainable,  though 
Thacher  calls  him  "  an  eminent  botanist  and 
physician  "  and  Leslie  Stephen  says  "  he  studied 
medicine."  He  seemingly  did  not  begin  as  a 
doctor,  but  was  put  by  his  father  in  the  office  of 
Peter  Beverley,  Prothonotary  for  Gloucester 
County,  Virginia.  When  Beverley  died,  Clay- 
ton succeeded  him  and  held  the  post  for  51  years. 
Apparently  this  work  gave  him  leisure  to  make 
excursions  over  the  country,  to  continue  his 
chemistry,  and  do  a  little  doctoring.  Most  scien- 
tists of  that  time  sent  the  results  of  their  scientific 
gleanings  over  to  the  Royal  Society  in  London; 
so,  like  the  Observable*  of  the  other  John  Clay- 
ton, our  botanist  in  1739  sent  his  Experiments 
concerning  the  Spirit  of  Coals,  while  his  papers 
on  the  flora  of  Virginia  were  published  in  the 
Philosophical  Transactions,  London,  vols.  xvii, 
xviii  and  xli. 

These  writings  led  him  into  correspondence 
with  European  naturalists,  especially  the  Dutch- 
men, John  F.  and  Laurence  Gronovius,  who  pub- 

1  Biographical  Diet.    Rose. 
Diet.  Nat.  Bioff.     Stephens. 


46      SOME  AMERICAN  MEDICAL  BOTANISTS 

lished  their  Flora  Virginica  exhibens  Plantas 
quas  in  Virginia  Clayton  collegit  (Leyden,  1739 
and  1745) .  These  parts  were  reissued  after  Clay- 
ton's death  in  1782.  Turning  over  the  pages  of 
the  Correspondence  of  Linnaeus,  I  find  some 
letters  which  interestingly  refer  to  this.  In  his 
letters  to  Haller,  1737  and  1738,  Linnaeus  re- 
marks that "  Gronovius  will,  doubtless,  soon  pub- 
lish the  plants  sent  by  Clayton  from  Virginia, 
unless  he  considers  too  long  about  the  matter," 
and: 

"  I  have  at  length  received  from  London  a 
specimen  of  that  American  Poly  gala  for  which  a 
certain  empyric  received  a  thousand  pounds  ster- 
ling from  the  English  American  Society;  this 
man  having  found  its  root  a  specific  for  I  know 
not  what  disorder. 

"  The  plant  has  many  characters  in  common 
with  the  Penoea  of  Plumier.  Gronovius  no 
doubt  will  describe  it  amongst  his  Virginian 
plants.  I  wish  he  had  not  so  long  hesitated  to 
publish  his  book.  He  is  too  timid.  You  would 
scarcely  believe  how  many  of  the  vegetable  pro- 
ductions of  Virginia  are  the  same  as  our  Euro- 
pean ones.  There  are  Alps  in  the  country  of 
New  York,  for  the  snow  remains  all  summer 
long  on  the  mountains  there.  I  am  now  giving 
instructions  to  a  medical  student  here,  who  is  a 
native  of  that  country"  (Adam  Kuhn?)  "and 


JOHN  CLAYTON  47 

will  return  thither  in  the  course  of  a  year,  that 
he  may  visit  those  mountains  and  let  me  know 
whether  the  same  plants  are  found  there  as  in 
Europe." 

But  Gronovius  of  Leyden,"  writing  to  Richard 
Richardson,*  an  English  botanist,  in  1738,  says: 

"  I  now  send  you  all  the  rest  of  Linnaeus' 
works,  in  which  you  will  find  great  learning  and 
many  curious  remarks.  Most  of  your  triflers  in 
Botany  dislike  his  method,  and  particularly  his 
Gritica,  because  they  do  not  understand  him.  .  .  . 
I  assure  you,  Sir,  it  was  by  his  principles  alone 
that  I  could  reduce  several  of  your  Virginian 
plants  to  their  proper  Genus,  as  you  will  see  in  the 
Flora  Virginica.  This  work  will  go  to  press  as 
soon  as  the  Hortus  Cliff ortianus  is  published, 
which  I  expect  every  day." 

Laurence  Gronovius  gave  the  name  of  Clay- 
tonia  to  a  genus  of  perennial  plants  of  which  the 
Claytonia  Virglnica  is  popularly  known  as  the 
"  Spring  Beauty,"  on  account  of  its  early  ap- 
pearance. 

I  do  not  know  whether  Clayton  hoped,  like 
old  Dr.  Garden,  that  he  could  roam  over  celestial 
fields  in  search  of  specimens,  but  he  departed  this 
life  the  i^th  of  December,  1773,  happy  in  the 
thought  that  two  volumes  of  botany  notes  would 

8  John  F.  Gronovius,  M.  D.,  1690-1762. 
8  Richard  Richardson,  1663-1741  (Richardsonia,  Linn.) 
6 


48       SOME  AMERICAN  MEDICAL  BOTANISTS 

be  published  and  his  Hortus  Siccus,  in  folio,  with 
full  marginal  notes  for  the  printer  and  engraver, 
would  benefit  the  Virginians.  Unfortunately,  an 
incendiary  set  fire  to  the  Town  Clerk's  office 
where  they  were  safely  stowed  away,  and  all  were 
burnt. 

When  seventy-seven,  Clayton  made  a  botanical 
tour  of  Orange  County,  then  largely  a  wilderness, 
and  visited  nearly  all  the  settled  parts  of  Virginia. 
He  was  wont  to  declare  that  no  botanist  could  be 
an  atheist,  seeing,  as  he  did,  infinite  wisdom  in  the 
structure  of  the  smallest  plant.  From  the  scanty 
records  left,  it  is  evident  that  John  Clayton  was 
a  godly  member  of  the  Church  of  England  and  a 
most  useful  citizen. 

Contributions  to  the  Annals  of  Medical  Progress.    Toner. 

American  Medical  Biography.    Thacher. 

Diet,  of  National  Biography.    Stephens. 

Correspondence  of  Linnaeus. 

Memorials  of  Bartram  and  Marshall.    Darlington. 


JOHN  BARTRAM 

1699-1777 
Lantana  Bartramii — BALDWIN 

Let  John  Bartram  tell  in  his  own  words  how 
he  was  first  led  to  study  the  science  which  made 
him  in  after  years  a  pioneer  botanist  in  America. 

"  One  day,"  he  says,  "  I  was  very  busy  in  hold- 
ing my  plough  (for  thou  seest  that  I  am  but  a 
ploughman) ,  and  being  weary  I  ran  under  a  tree 
to  repose  myself.  I  cast  my  eyes  on  a  daisy;  I 
plucked  it  mechanically  and  viewed  it  with  more 
curiosity  than  common  country  farmers  are  wont 
to  do,  and  observed  therein  very  many  distinct 
parts,  some  perpendicular,  some  horizontal. 
'  What  a  shame,'  said  my  mind,  '  that  thee 
shouldst  have  employed  thy  mind  so  many  years 
in  tilling  the  earth  and  destroying  so  many 
flowers  and  plants  without  being  acquainted  with 
their  structures  and  their  uses.'  ....  I  thought 
about  it  continually,  at  supper,  in  bed,  and  wher- 
ever I  went,  ....  on  the  fourth  day  I  hired  a 
man  to  plough  for  me  and  went  to  Philadelphia. 
Though  I  knew  not  what  book  to  call  for,  I  in- 
geniously told  the  bookseller  my  errand,  who 
provided  me  with  such  as  he  thought  best,  and  a 

49 


SO      SOME  AMERICAN  MEDICAL  BOTANISTS 

Latin  grammar.  Next  I  applied  to  a  neighbor- 
ing schoolmaster,  who  in  three  months  taught  me 
Latin  enough  to  understand  Linnaeus,  which  I 
purchased  afterwards.  Then  I  began  to  botanize 
all  over  my  farm.  In  a  little  time  I  became  ac- 
quainted with  every  vegetable  that  grew  in  the 

neighborhood By  steady  application  of 

several  years  I  acquired  a  pretty  general  knowl- 
edge of  every  plant  and  tree  to  be  found  on  our 
continent.  In  process  of  time  I  was  applied  to 
from  the  old  countries,  whither  I  every  year  send 
many  collections." 

So  wrote  America's  earliest  botanist  and  the 
founder  of  her  first  botanical  garden. 

He  was  born  on  the  23d  of  March,  1699,  in 
Derby,  Delaware  County,  Pennsylvania,  son  of 
William  and  Elizabeth  Hunt  Bartram,  descend- 
ants of  Richard  Bartram  of  Derby,  England, 
whose  son,  grandfather  of  our  botanist,  came  over 
to  Pennsylvania  in  1682. 

The  inheritance,  from  an  uncle,  of  a  farm  in 
Derby  placed  him  a  little  above  those  petty  cares 
which  fret  the  heart  of  a  scientist,  and  as  he  had 
an  early  inclination  to  medicine  he  acquired  so 
much  knowledge  as  to  be  useful  to  sick  neighbors 
who  were  unable  to  get  to  Philadelphia.  Prob- 
ably most  of  his  remedies  were  herbal,  from 
plants  gathered  by  himself,  but  he  was  able  to 
prepare  the  notes  and  appendix  to  the  American 


(By   permission   of   Professor   Harshberger) 


JOHN   BARTRAM  51 

edition  of   Short's  Medicina  Britannica,   pub- 
lished by  Benjamin  Franklin  in  1751. 

Haller,  in  his  Blbliotheca  Anatomica,  speaks 
of  him  as  a  physician,  and  certainly  he  devoted 
much  of  his  time  to  physic  and  surgery,  obtaining 
some  celebrity  in  the  latter.  He  bought  for  his 
botanical  garden  a  piece  of  land  about  three  miles 
from  Philadelphia  on  the  Schuylkill,  and  built  a 
house  there  with  his  own  hands.  He  employed 
much  of  his  time  in  specimen  hunting  and  natural 
history  research,  no  dangers  deterring  him.  A 
modern  explorer  with  an  air  bed,  camp  furniture, 
collapsible  tent  (and  hopes)  is  a  pigmy,  con- 
trasted with  this  John  setting  out  when  seventy 
years  old  from  Philadelphia  to  explore  in 
Florida.  This  was  before  the  days  of  Govern- 
mental Commissions,  and  Bartram  paid  his  own 
expenses.  When  he  had  gathered  a  large  natural 
history  collection,  one  of  his  friends — Joseph 
Breintnall,  a  Philadelphia  merchant — undertook 
to  convey  some  to  the  botanist,  Peter  Collinson,1 
in  London;  and  it  was  chiefly  through  Collinson 
that  Bartram  found  correspondents  throughout 
Europe  and  became  a  member  of  the  Royal 
Society  in  London  and  in  Stockholm.  Collinson 
says  in  one  of  his  letters : 

1  Peter  Collinson,  1693-1768  (Collinsonia  Canadensis.    Linnaeus). 


52       SOME  AMERICAN   MEDICAL  BOTANISTS 

"  My  good  Friend,  John  Bartram: 

"  I  am  very  sensible  of  the  great  pains  and 
many  toilsome  steps  to  collect  so  many  rare  plants 
scattered  at  a  distance.  I  shall  not  soon  forget 
it;  but,  in  some  measure  to  shew  my  gratitude, 
though  not  in  proportion  to  thy  trouble,  I  have 
sent  thee  a  small  token :  a  calico  gown  for  thy  wife 
and  some  odd  little  things  that  may  be  of  use 
amongst  the  children  and  family.  They  come  in 
a  box  of  books  to  my  worthy  friend,  Joseph 
Breintnall,  with  another  parcel  of  waste  paper 

which  will  serve  to  wrap  up  seeds,  etc 

Thou  canst  not  think  how  well  the  little  case  of 
plants  came,  being  put  under  the  captain's  bed, 

and  saw  not  the  light  till  I  went  for  it 

The  warmth  of  the  ship  and  want  of  air  had  occa- 
sioned the  Skunk-weed  to  put  forth  two  fine 
blossoms,  very  beautiful,  but  it  is  of  the  Arum 

genus As  I  hope  to  make  a  present  of  a 

part  of  the  seeds  (sent)  to  a  very  curious  person, 
Lord  Petre,  I  hope  to  procure  thee  some  present 
for  thy  trouble  of  collecting. 

"  I  am  thy  very  sincere  friend,  P.  Collinson." 

"  London,  January  24,  1735." 

Any  one  desirous  of  some  pleasant  reading 
about  this  genial  and  learned  Bartram  should 
take  an  hour  or  two  with  The  Memorials  of  John 
Bartram  and  Humphry  Marshall,  by  Dr.  Will- 
iam Darlington,  Philadelphia,  1849. 


JOHN  BARTRAM  53 

In  January,  1723,  Bartram  married  Mary, 
daughter  of  Richard  Maris,  of  Chester,  and  had 
two  sons,  Richard  and  Isaac.  Two  years  after 
her  death  in  1727  he  married  Ann  Mendenhall, 
and  had  nine  children:  James,  Moses,  Eliza- 
beth, Mary,  William  and  Elizabeth  (twins), 
Ann,  John,  and  Benjamin. 

It  was  William  Baldwin  who  named  a  plant 
after  Bartram.  A  letter  from  him,  dated  1817, 
in  the  Reliquiae  Baldijoinianae,  says : 

"  As  our  venerable  botanical  friend,  Bartram, 
will  perhaps  be  somewhat  disappointed  in  not 
seeing  or  hearing  from  me,  I  should  be  glad  if 
you  call  upon  him  the  first  opportunity,  and  make 
an  apology  for  me.  It  is  my  intention  to  do  him 
all  possible  justice  in  my  notices  of  Florida 
plants.  The  Lantana  which  he  discovered  I  have 
called  L.  Bartramii — foliis  ovatis,  obtusis,  cre- 
natis ;  caule  herbaceo,  angulato,  aculeato,  piloso, 
ramoso ;  floribus  capitato-umbellatis,  f oliosis. 
This  is  a  beautiful  plant,  attaining  to  the  height 
of  six  feet — and  abounds  along  the  coast  of 
Florida.  The  account  given  of  it  by  Bartram  is 
very  correct.  It  may  come  very  near  the  L. 
aculeata  of  South  America."  8 

2  The  Linnaean  genus  Bartramia  was  unquestionably  named  after 
John  Bartram,  although  he  thought  it  superfluous  to  say  so.  The  same 
is  true  of  the  well-known  genus  Bartramia  of  Hedwig.  Neither  name 
is  now  tenable  under  modern  rules  of  nomenclature.  (J.  H.  Barn- 
hart.) 


54      SOME  AMERICAN  MEDICAL  BOTANISTS 

John  Hedwig,8  the  celebrated  muscologist,  also 
named  a  genus  of  mosses  Bartramia,  while  Lind- 
ley  gives  this  and  another,  on  which  it  was  pro- 
posed to  found  a  new  genus ;  but  the  latter  was 
ultimately  referred  to  the  Triumfetta  of  Plumier 
and  Linnaeus.4  (Darlington.) 

In  Paxton's  Botanical  Dictionary?  1840,  he 
describes  Hedwig's  Bartramia  as  "  an  elegant 
genus  of  mosses,  remarkable  for  their  green 
leaves  and  spherical  capsules.  The  genus  ap- 
proaches nearly  to  Bryum,  but  differs  in  almost 
every  species  having  spherical  capsules,  and  the 
sixteen  broad  segments  of  the  inner  peristome, 
instead  of  being  entire,  or  only  perforated,  are 
cleft  like  the  teeth  of  a  Dicranum" 

He  employed  much  of  his  time  travelling 
through  the  different  provinces  of  North  Amer- 
ica subject  to  England.  "  Neither  dangers  nor 
difficulties  impeded  or  confined  his  researches 
after  objects  in  natural  history.  The  summits  of 
our  highest  mountains  were  ascended  and  ex- 
plored by  him.  The  lakes  Ontario,  Iroquois  and 
George  ....  the  shores  and  sources  of  the 
great  rivers  were  visited  by  him  at  an  early  period 
— when  it  was  truly  a  perilous  undertaking  to 
travel  in  the  territories,  or  even  on  the  frontiers 
of  the  Aborigines." 

"John  Hedwig,  1730-1799. 

4  Joseph  G.  Gaetner,  M.  D.,  1732-1791. 

8  Joseph  Paxton,  1801-1865. 


JOHN  BARTRAM  55 

When  Bartram  was  on  his  travels  he  stayed 
some  days  with  Dr.  Alexander  Garden  in 
Charleston,  and  it  is  rather  amusing  to  read  a 
letter  from  Garden  to  John  Ellis  (in  1765)  : 

"  My  dear  friend,  et  mihi  Magnus  Apollo : 

"  First  of  all  let  me  inform  you  that  I  have 
had  Mr.  Bartram  for  my  guest  for  these  nine 
days  past.  He  went  this  day  for  Cape  Fear,  from 
whence  he  returns  to  me  in  about  three  weeks,  and 
then  he  proposes  to  set  out  for  East  Florida.  I 
have  had  many  conversations  with  him,  and  have 
endeavored  to  give  him  all  the  light  and  assist- 
ance I  could  into  the  nature  of  the  hot  southern 
climates,  and  their  productions.  I  have  been 
several  times  into  the  country  and  places  adja- 
cent to  town  with  him,  and  have  told  him  the 
classes,  genera,  and  species  of  all  the  plants  that 
occurred,  which  I  knew.  I  did  this  in  order  to 
facilitate  his  enquiries,  as  I  find  he  knows  noth- 
ing of  the  generic  character  of  plants,  and  can 
neither  class  them  nor  describe  them;  but  I  see 
that,  from  great  natural  strength  of  mind  and 
long  practice,  he  has  much  acquaintance  with  the 
specific  characters;  though  this  knowledge  is 
rude,  inaccurate,  indistinct  and  confused,  sel- 
dom determining  well  between  species  and  vari- 
eties  

"  This  I  hope  will  render  his  enquiries  into 
the  Florida  plants  more  certain  and  accurate; 


56       SOME  AMERICAN  MEDICAL  BOTANISTS 

and  I  shall  rejoice  if  it  is  of  the  least  service  to 
him.  He  tells  me  that  he  is  appointed  King's 
Botanist  in  America.  Is  it  really  so?  Surely 
John  is  a  worthy  man ;  but  yet  to  give  the  title  of 
King's  Botanist  to  a  man  who  can  scarcely  spell, 
much  less  make  out  the  characters  of  any  one 
genus  of  plants,  appears  rather  hyperbolical. 
Pray  how  is  this  matter?  Is  he  not  rather  ap- 
pointed or  sent,  and  paid,  for  searching  out  the 
plants  of  East  and  West  Florida,  and  for  that 
service  only  to  have  a  reward  and  his  expenses? 
Surely  our  King  is  a  great  King!  The  very  idea 
of  ordering  such  a  search  is  noble,  grand,  royal. 
It  may  be  attended  with  much  use  to  mankind, 
much  honour  to  the  Royal  Patron ;  and  it  will  be 
a  further  illustration  of  the  power,  wisdom,  and 
goodness  of  our  great  Heavenly  Father." 

These  remarks  concerning  his  guest  as  King's 
Botanist  advert  to  Bartram's  appointment  and 
reception  of  an  order  to  discover  the  source  of  the 
great  river  St.  Johns.  Four  hundred  miles  he 
travelled,  and  in  the  course  of  this  journey  made 
an  accurate  survey  of  the  river,  its  lakes  and 
branches,  the  soil,  animals  and  climate,  which 
was  published  in  London. 

There  seems  to  have  been  a  little  rivalry  be- 
tween Bartram  and  Garden,  though,  referring 


JOHN   BARTRAM  57 

again  to  the  correspondence  of  Linnaeus,  Garden 
says  to  Ellis  ( 1 765 ) ,  with  a  generous  enthusiasm : 

"  You  tell  me  you  are  surprised  that  I  over- 
looked a  new  species  of  the  live  oak  which  John 
Bartram  found  near  Charleston.  Let  me  assure 
you  that  John  Bartram  received  from  me  these 
very  specimens,  some  of  the  Phillyrea  and  many 
others,  from  my  Hortus  Siccus,  of  which  he  has, 
it  seems,  made  a  different  -use  from  what  I  ap- 
prehended. Yet,  after  all,  he  is  an  excellent  man 
and  I  forgive  him,  because  it  is  a  matter  of  little 
moment  who  declares  the  glories  of  God,  pro- 
vided they  are  not  passed  over  in  silence." 

The  two  always  seemed  good  friends  and 
freely  exchanged  specimens.  Bartram  grumbles 
a  little  at  some  of  his  European  correspondents 
"  who  write  to  me  as  freely  for  the  Carolina 
plants  as  if  they  thought  I  could  get  them  as 
easily  as  they  do  the  plants  in  the  European  gar- 
dens; that  is,  to  walk  at  their  leisure  along  the 
alleys  and  dig  what  they  please  out  of  the  beds 
without  the  danger  of  life 'or  limb." 

Still,  he  had  compensations  at  home,  for  he 
says  (1762)  :  "  I  have  received  a  lovely  parcel 
this  Spring  from  Mrs.  Logan,6  my  '  fascinated 
widow.'  I  have  also  fascinated  two  men's  wives, 
although  one  I  never  saw,  that  is,  Mrs.  Lamboll, 
who  hath  sent  me  two  noble  cargoes." 

"A  great  florist,  who  married  at  fifteen  and  wrote  a  Treatise  on 
Gardening  when  seventy  years  old. 


58       SOME  AMERICAN  MEDICAL  BOTANISTS 

His  personal  character  in  all  records  is  shown 
to  be  that  of  a  genial  philanthropist  with  a  capa- 
bility for  righteous  wrath  on  occasion.  He  seems 
to  have  anticipated  Tolstoy  in  the  "  simple  life," 
with  his  slaves  emancipated  before  the  war  sit- 
ting at  the  lower  end  of  the  dining  table,  and  the 
fare  plentiful  but  plain.  He  loved  his  Bible  and 
read  it  to  his  boys  and  girls.  Over  the  windows 
of  his  study  was  carved : 

"  'Tis  God  alone,  Almighty  Lord, 
The  holy  One  by  me  adored. 

"  John  Bar  tram,  1770." 

Glimpses  are  caught  of  his  home  life  in  un- 
expected places.  Dusty  volumes  piled  around 
and  wearily  read  often  light  up  after  some  little 
search  with  glowing  accounts  of  the  man  I  seek. 
Here  is  one — Letters  from  An  American  Farmer 
written  for  the  Information  of  a  Friend  in  Eng- 
land (1782).  Hector  St.  John  de  Crevecoeur, 
the  author,  was  Consul-General  to  the  United 
States  and,  being  interested  in  agriculture  and 
natural  science,  went  to  call  on  Bartram,  and 
keenly  enjoyed  the  host  and  his  homestead. 

"  We  entered  into  a  large  hall  where  there  was 
a  long  table  full  of  victuals :  at  the  lowest  part  sat 
his  negroes;  his  hired  men  were  next,  and  at  the 
head  the  venerable  father  and  his  wife  presided. 
....  Soon  after  dinner,  I  heard,  as  I  thought, 
a  distant  concert  of  instruments Anxious, 


JOHN  BARTRAM  59 

I  followed  the  sound,  and,  by  ascending  the  stair- 
case, found  it  was  the  effect  of  the  wind  through 

the  strings  of  an  Aeolian  harp After 

dinner  we  quaffed  an  honest  bottle  of  Madeira 
wine  ....  and  then  returned  to  his  study." 

Although  he  lived  to  be  nearly  80,  he  had  never 
coveted  an  old  age,  fearing  he  would  become  use- 
less to  society.  "  I  want  to  die  "  were  his  last 
words,  when  a  short  illness  bore  him,  still  keen- 
witted, to  the  grave. 

Memorials  of  John  Bartram  and  Humphry  Marshall.     William 
Darlington.    Philadelphia,  1849. 
Medicina  Britannica. 
Biog.  by  Thomas  Short. 
Correspondence  of  Linnaeus. 
The  Botanists  of  Philadelphia.    J.  W.  Harshberger. 


ALEXANDER  GARDEN 

1728-1792 
Gardenia  jasminoides — ELLIS 

Alexander  Garden,  of  Charleston,  South  Caro- 
lina, was  a  valued  friend  of  Marshall,  Sr.,  and 
such  a  diligent  and  graceful  correspondent  with 
other  eminent  botanists  of  his  day  that  much 
which  is  interesting  concerning  his  life  can  be 
culled  from  his  letters  by  those  who  will  con 
them  with  the  affectionate  attention  they  deserve 
at  the  hands  of  an  interested  posterity. 

His  father,  also  named  Alexander,  who  was  a 
clergyman  at  Birse,  near  Aberdeen,  Scotland, 
went  out  in  1719  to  Charleston  and  became  rector 
of  St.  Philip's  Church  there.  He  seems  to  have 
been  a  good  deal  of  an  autocrat,  for  he  lived  in 
the  stirring  times  of  religious  revivalism  and  it 
is  related  that  after  promising  George  White- 
field  his  support,  he  denied  him  the  use  of  St. 
Philips  because  Whitefield  had  become  a  "  field 
preacher." 

Alexander  the  second  was  sent  home  to  be 
educated,  and  studied  in  Edinburgh  under  the 
celebrated  Dr.  Gregory  and  Alston  the  botanist. 
He  graduated  as  an  M.  D.  in  Edinburgh  and  re- 
do 


GARDENIA    JASMINOIDES 
(From  the  J.  Horace  McFarland  Nurseries) 


ALEXANDER  GARDEN  6 1 

turned  to  Charleston  in  1752  ;but  went  for  a  while 
before  this  as  professor  at  King's  (afterwards 
Columbia)  College,  New  York.  Returning  to 
Charleston,  he  began  a  successful  practice.1 
Glimpses  of  his  life  at  this  time  are  given  in  his 
letters,  one  of  which  is  to  John  Bartram,  the 
botanist:  "  Think  that  I  am  here,  confined  to  the 
sandy  streets  of  Charleston,  where  the  ox,  where 
the  ass,  and  where  man,  as  stupid  as  either,  fill 
up  the  vacant  space,  while  you  range  the  green 
fields  of  Florida." 

Not  one  in  a  thousand  knows  after  whom  the 
genus  Gardenia  was  named,  so  I  quote  a  letter 
from  Linnaeus  to  John  Ellis,2  the  botanist 
( 1760) ,  in  which  he  says : 

"  I  had  given  the  name  of  Gardenia  to  an  en- 
tirely new  and  very  singular  genus,  the  Catti  ma- 
rus  of  Rumphius,  Amboin,  v.  z.  177,  t.  113,  in 
order  so  far  to  conform  to  your  wishes.  But  as 
you  still  persist  in  your  decision,  that  the  Jasmine 
so  often  mentioned  between  us  should  be  called 
Gardenia,  I  will  comply,  though  I  cannot  but 
foresee  that  this  measure  will  be  exposed  to  much 
censure.  I  find  it  impossible  to  deny  you  any- 
thing. All  that  I  beg  of  you,  my  dear  friend,  is, 
that  you  would  publish  the  genus  and  its  char- 
acter in  some  loose  sheet,  or  some  periodical 

1  Some  biographers  say  he  declined  the  invitation  to  King's  College. 
3  Correspondence  of  Linnaeus,  vol.  i,  p.  135. 


62       SOME  AMERICAN  MEDICAL  BOTANISTS 

work,  or  Transactions;  in  which  case  I  promise 
to  adopt  the  name.  I  wish  to  learn  from  you 
what  Dr.  Garden  has  written  in  Botany,  or  what 
he  had  discovered  that  I  may  make  mention  of 
it."  Garden  gives  evidence  of  his  botanic  tastes 
in  a  letter  to  Ellis  himself : 

"  You  will  no  doubt  readily  think  that  it  is  odd 
in  me,  who  live  so  far  from  the  learned  world, 
to  have  such  an  avaricious  desire  after  new  cor- 
respondents. I  own  it  is  really  odd ;  but  I  cannot 
help  it,  and  I  think  that  nothing  is  a  greater  spur 
to  enquiries  and  further  improvement,  than  some 
demands  from  literary  correspondents.  I  know 
that  every  letter  which  I  receive  not  only  revives 
the  little  botanic  spark  in  my  breast,  but  even  in- 
creases its  quantity  and  flaming  force.  Some  such 
thing  is  absolutely  necessary  to  one,  living  under 
our  broiling  sun,  else  ce  feu,  cette  divine  flame, 
as  Perrault  calls  it,  would  be  evaporated  in  a  few 
years,  and  we  should  rest  satisfied  before  we  had 
half  discharged  our  duty  to  our  fellow  creatures, 
which  obliges  us,  as  members  of  the  great  society, 
to  contribute  our  mite  towards  proper  knowledge 
of  the  works  of  our  common  Father." 

The  study  of  zoology,  especially  fishes  and 
reptiles,  filled  up  the  leisure  left  from  a  large 
practice  and  botanizing;  and  he  kept  up  an  active 
correspondence  also  with  Linnaeus,  to  whom  he 
sent  large  collections  of  fishes  so  well  prepared 


LETTER   FROM   DR.   ALEXANDER   GARDEN   IN   THE 
POSSESSION  OF  THE  AUTHOR 


ALEXANDER  GARDEN  63 

that  when  Prof.  G.  Brown  Goode,  of  Washing- 
ton, D.  C.,  saw  them  in  1883,  he  found  "  nearly 
every  specimen  referred  to  by  him  (Garden)  in 
his  letters  in  excellent  condition,  though  few  col- 
lected by  others  were  identifiable." 

Garden  discovered  the  Amphiuma  means 
(Congo  snake),  and  was  instrumental  in  sending 
the  first  electrical  eels  to  Europe.  He  tells  Ellis 
( 177$)  ^at,  owing  to  a  very  severe  fever,  he  had 
not  been  able  to  examine  them  thoroughly,  but 
their  structure  seemed  so  uncommon,  he  had 
written  a  paper  which  might  be  read  by  Ellis 
before  the  Royal  Society  (An  Account  of  the 
Gymnotus  Electricus,  1775). 

"  I  desired  him  "  (the  owner  of  the  eels)  "  if 
they  arrived  safe,  immediately  to  go  to  you,  but, 
lest  they  should  die  by  the  way,  I  desired  him  to 

put  them  into  a  small  Kegg  of  rum I 

wish  to  hear  both  of  the  fate  of  my  letter  and  of 
these  fish.  I  have  had  so  very  disordered  a  state 
of  health  that  I  have  not  been  able  to  do  anything 
in  the  way  of  procuring  materials  for  fresh  ob- 
servations in  Natural  History." 

He  also  sent — to  Linnaeus — in  1770,  a  descrip- 
tion of  the  vermifuge  Spigelia  Marylandica,  or 
Indian  Pink  Root,  telling  him  the  account  of  it 
would  appear  in  the  Essays  and  Observations  of 
the  Edinburgh  Philosophical  Society  and  prom- 
ising to  find  out  whether  the  Chigo  ("  jigger  ") 


64       SOME  AMERICAN   MEDICAL  BOTANISTS 

flea  of  Catesby  can  be  found  as  far  north  as 
Carolina. 

It  was  about  this  time  (1771)  that  an  interest- 
ing lad  who  had  been  educated  in  Scotland  came 
to  him  as  pupil.  This  was  William  Charles 
Wells,  afterwards  to  become  known  for  his 
papers  on  The  Formation  of  Dew  and  An  Essay 
upon  Single  Vision  with  Two  Eyes.  Wells  had 
two  trials  in  early  life:  one,  an  arbitrary  father; 
the  other,  our  friend  Garden.  Wells'  father, 
fearing  the  lad  should  become  tainted  with  dis- 
loyalty after  the  Peace  of  1763,  compelled  him  to 
wear  Highland  dress,  hoping  to  make  him  re- 
member he  was  a  Scotsman.  Wells  says  bitterly, 
speaking  of  his  boy  companions,  "  The  persecu- 
tion I  hence  suffered  produced  this  effect  com- 
pletely." He  tells  also  that  "  Dr.  Garden  had 
been  accustomed  to  apprentices  of  a  very  different 
character  [from  himself]  and  frequently  sus- 
pected me  of  falsehood  and  once  attempted  to 
strike  me  with  his  hand.  From  this  time  I  be- 
came in  my  conduct  to  him  reserved  and  indig- 
nant ....  and  betook  myself  seriously  to  study." 
The  somewhat  choleric  Garden  and  the  "  re- 
served and  indignant  "  Wells  must  have  made  the 
Charleston  home  an  uncomfortable  one  during 
the  three  years'  apprenticeship! 

Thacher,  who  loves  to  disguise  weaknesses  in 
wordy  dressing,  and  admits  only  that  a  doctor 


ALEXANDER  GARDEN  65 

"  was  addicted  to  the  too  frequent  imbibition  of 
spirituous  liquor,"  but  never  that  he  was  drunk, 
says  that  Garden  was  "  particularly  fond  of  re- 
fined female  society  and  to  it  devoted  a  con- 
siderable portion  of  his  time,  but  enough  'was 
reserved  for  mental  improvement  !  '* 

He  married  Elizabeth  Peronneau,  and  writes 
to  Ellis:  "  A  love  affair  prevented  me  from  at- 
tending much  to  my  studies  or  collections,"  and 
"  I  hurry  away  to  meet  the  parson  and  my  dear 
girl,  so  must  bid  you  adieu."  He  had  a  son  and 
two  daughters,  but  his  family  is  now  extinct. 

Eager  to  extend  his  knowledge,  in  1755  he 
accompanied  James  Glen,  Governor  of  South 
Carolina,  when  the  latter  penetrated  the  Indian 
country  and  formed  a  treaty  with  the  Cherokees. 

About  1772  Garden  was  made  a  fellow  of  the 
Royal  Society  of  London,  and  eventually  its  vice- 
president. 

A  somewhat  pathetic  interest  is  attached  to  a 
little  granddaughter,  named  "  Gardenia."  Her 
father,  Alexander,  Garden's  only  son,  joined 
Lee's  legion  against  the  British  and  was  never 
forgiven ;  nor  was  the  little  girl,  his  granddaugh- 
ter with  the  flower  name,  ever  received  into  the 
house.  This  son  he  sent  to  England  to  be  edu- 
cated under  Mr.  William  Rose,  his  own  school- 
master, and  introduces  him  to  Ellis: 8 

3  Correspondence  of  Linnaeus,  vol.  i,  p.  603. 


66       SOME  AMERICAN   MEDICAL   BOTANISTS 

"  I  have  now,  my  dear  Sir,  to  beg  leave  to  in- 
troduce to  you  the  bearer  of  this,  my  only  son. 
He  has  been  in  England  four  or  five  years,  but  I 
could  not  think  of  troubling  you  with  his  visits 
while  he  was  too  young  to  profit  from  your  con- 
versation. He  will  now  soon  leave  London  to 
repair  to  a  University;  but  as  he  will  now  and 
then  visit  London  during  the  vacation  times,  I 
could  wish  that  he  had  at  such  times  your  leave 
to  pay  his  respects  to  you,  to  enquire  after  your 
health,  and  be  permitted  to  see  and  converse  with 
his  father's  most  esteemed  and  valued  friend. 

"  I  am  yet  entirely  unacquainted  with  any  par- 
ticular penchant  which  he  may  have,  or  to  what 
profession  his  genius  may  incline  him.  But  I 
think  I  could  wish  him  to  have  pleasure  in  look- 
ing at,  considering,  and  admiring  the  works  of 
his  Creator,  in  the  various  forms  in  which  they 
appear  to  us.  This  would  never  interfere  with 
any  profession,  and  it  would  be  a  source  of  benefit 
to  himself.  For  this  reason  I  should  be  happy 
to  have  him  acquainted  with,  and  introduced  to, 
the  curious  gardens  about  London,  if  it  should 
happen  at  any  time  to  fall  in  your  way  to  take  him 
with  you  in  any  of  your  walks  to  Mr.  Gordon's 
or  any  other  curious  gardens.  I  should  exteem 
it  a  great  favour  done  me." 

The  lad  went  to  Westminster  School  and  Glas- 
gow University,  and  after  the  war  he  received  a 


ALASTAR,  THE  LAST  OF  THE  GARDENS 
(From  a  miniature  belonging  to  Mrs.  Henry  S.  Holmes) 


ALEXANDER  GARDEN  67 

grant  of  his  father's  confiscated  estates  and 
married  Mary  Ann  Gibbes.  A  copy  of  his 
Anecdotes  of  the  Revolutionary  War,  1822,  is  in 
the  British  Museum,  and  an  original  miniature, 
kindly  lent  me  by  Mrs.  Henry  S.  Holmes,  of 
Charleston,  shows  his  son  Alastar,  the  last  of  the 
Gardens. 

Tuberculosis,  hitherto  successfully  fought,  be- 
gan to  tell  on  Garden's  health  in  1783,  although 
it  was  hoped,  in  vain,  that  "  revisiting  the  haunts 
of  his  youth  [England  and  Scotland]  and  the 
pleasing  recollections  of  juvenile  scenes  would 
have  salutary  influence  in  arresting  the  disease." 
The  good  time  every  learned  man  tried  to  give 
him  as  guest,  during  the  progress  homeward  and 
while  travelling  in  Europe,  exhausted  his 
strength.  He  stayed,  with  wife  and  two  daugh- 
ters, in  Cecil  Street,  off  the  Strand,  London,  a 
part  of  the  city  up  which  to-day,  as  then,  creep 
fog  and  mist  from  the  river — a  bad  exchange  for 
Carolina  sunshine.  Here,  patiently  realizing 
that  nothing  could  be  done,  he  put  on  paper  all 
he  could  of  his  Carolina  work,  enjoyed  the  men 
who  flocked  to  him,  and  got  ready  for  his  last  long 
journey.  He  died  peacefully  in  London,  in  1792, 
perhaps  realizing  in  some  measure  that  which  he 
had  playfully  written  of  in  a  letter  to  Linnaeus, 
dated  1761 : 


68       SOME  AMERICAN   MEDICAL   BOTANISTS 

"  Remember  me  in  a  particular  manner  to  Dr. 
Solander.  How  happy  I  should  be  in  having  an 
hour  or  two's  tete-a-tete  with  you  both!  If  seas 
and  mountains  can  keep  us  asunder  here,  yet 
surely  the  Father  of  Wisdom  and  Science  will 
take  away  that  veil  and  these  obstacles  when  this 
curtain  of  mortality  drops;  and  probably  I  may 
find  myself  on  the  skirts  of  a  meadow,  where  Lin- 
naeus is  explaining  the  wonders  of  a  new  world 
to  legions  of  white  candid  spirits,  glorifying  their 
Maker  for  the  amazing  enlargement  of  their 
mental  faculties.  What  think  you  of  this  time, 
my  dear  friend?  Shall  we  have  a  hearty  shake 
of  the  hand  if  such  practises  be  fashionable  or  in 
the  mode?  Believe  me,  I  long  to  see  more  of  my 
God,  and  to  know  many  of  my  friends  that  I  am 
afraid  I  cannot  meet  elsewhere," 

Memorials  of  Bartram  and  Marshall.    W.  Darlington,  1849. 

American  Medical  Biog.    Thacher. 

Memoir  of  Dr.  W.  C.  Wells. 

The  beginnings  of  Natural  history  in  America.  G.  Brown  Goode, 
1886. 

Ramsay's  Hist,  of  S.  Carolina,  vol.  ii. 

Smith's  Correspondence  of  Linnaeus. 

George  Whitefield.    J.  P.  Gledstone. 

Information  from  (Mrs.)  Harriott  Horry  Ravenel,  of  Charleston, 
S.  Carolina. 


4  Correspondence  of  Linnaeus,  vol.  i,  p.  511. 


ADAM   KUHN 

1741-1817 
Kuhnla  Eupatorioides — LINNAEUS 

Meanwhile,  botanists  were  increasing  in 
America,  especially  in  Pennsylvania,  which  state 
gave  us  the  pompous,  methodical,  learned  Adam 
Kuhn.  It  was  of  him  that  the  great  Linnaeus  sat 
down  on  February  24,  1763,  to  write  to  Adam 
Kuhn,  senior,  living  in  Philadelphia,  in  fine 
Latin  commending  his  pupil,  Adam  junior: 

"  He  is  unwearied  in  his  studies  and  daily  and 
faithfully  studies  materia  medica  with  me.  He 
has  learnt  the  sympathetic  history  of  diseases  in 
an  accurate  and  solid  manner.  In  natural  history 
and  botany  he  has  made  remarkable  success.  He 
has  studied  anatomy  and  physiology  with  other 
professors.7' 

Kuhn  was  born  at  Germantown,  near  Phila- 
delphia, November  17,  1741.  His  grandfather, 
John  Christopher  Kuhn,  and  his  father,  Dr. 
Adam  Simon  Kuhn,  came  from  Heilbronn, 
Swabia,  to  Philadelphia  in  September,  1733. 
Adam  first  studied  medicine  with  his  father,  then 
sailed  for  Europe,  in  1761,  and  arrived  at  Upsala 
by  way  of  London. 

69 


70       SOME  AMERICAN   MEDICAL  BOTANISTS 

There  is  a  little  glimpse  of  his  life  in  Upsala  in 
the  diary  of  Professor  Fabricius,  then  fellow- 
pupil  with  Kuhn,  who  writes : 

"  For  two  whole  years  [from  1762  till  1764] 
have  I  been  so  fortunate  as  to  enjoy  his  [Lin- 
naeus'] instruction,  his  guidance  and  his  confi- 
dential friendship.  Not  a  day  elapsed  on  which 
I  did  not  see  him,  on  which  I  was  not  either 
present  at  his  lectures,  or,  as  it  frequently  hap- 
pened, spent  several  hours  with  him  in  familiar 
conversation.  In  summer,  we  followed  him  into 
the  country.  We  were  three,  Kuhn,  Zoega  and 
I,  all  foreigners.  In  winter  we  lived  directly 
facing  his  house,  and  he  came  to  us  almost  every 
day  in  his  short  red  robe-de-chambre  with  a 
green  fur  cap  on  his  head  and  a  pipe  in  his  hand. 
He  came  for  half  an  hour,  but  stopped  a  whole 
one  and  many  times  two.  His  conversation  on 
these  occasions  was  extremely  sprightly  and 
pleasant.  It  either  consisted  in  anecdotes  relative 
to  the  learned  in  his  profession,  with  whom  he 
got  acquainted  in  foreign  countries,  or  in  clear- 
ing up  our  doubts,  or  giving  us  other  kinds  of 
instruction.  He  used  to  laugh  then  most  heartily, 
and  displayed  a  serenity  and  an  openness  of 
countenance  which  proved  how  much  his  soul 
was  susceptible  of  amity  and  good-fellowship."  * 

1  Stoever's  Life  of  Linnaeus. 


ADAM  KUHN 


ADAM   KUHN  71 

Kuhn  arrived  in  London  in  1764  and  studied 
there  a  while.  In  1767  he  was  in  Edinburgh, 
where  he  took  his  M.  D.  at  Edinburgh  University 
the  same  year.  His  thesis  De  Lavatione  Frigida, 
or  the  use  of  cold  bathing  in  fevers,  was  dedi- 
cated to  his  friend  Linnaeus. 

John  Ellis,  writing  to  Linnaeus  from  London 
in  1765,  tells  him,  "  Poor  Kuhn  has  been  very  ill 
of  a  pleuritic  fever,  but  is  now  crawling  about " ; 
and  in  the  same  year,  "  Our  friend,  Adam  Kuhn, 
is  now  at  W.  Pitcairn's,  a  merchant  in  Edin- 
burgh, Scotland :  I  do  not  doubt  but  he  will  pro- 
mote the  subject  of  Natural  History  there." 

Ellis  does  not  seem  so  much  in  favor  of  Kuhn 
in  1770,  for  he  says  to  Linnaeus : 

"  Dr.  Kuhn  is  one  of  those  American  chiefs 
that  despise  us  Englishmen.  I  sent  him  some 
seeds  of  the  Rheum  palmatum  by  a  friend  and  he 
had  not  the  decency  to  thank  me ;  but  his  German 
pride  will  do  him  no  service,  for,  thank  God,  we 
shall  now  humble  those  American  revolters.  He 
is,  to  my  knowledge,  infinitely  obliged  to  you: 
without  your  care  in  cultivating  his  mind  he 
would  have  been  a  mere  savage." ' 

After  this  explosive  statement  Kuhn  figures  no 
more  in  the  Correspondence. 

In  1768,  after  his  return  to  Philadelphia,  he 
became  professor  of  materia  medica  and 

*  Correspondence  of  Linnaeus,  vol.  i. 


72       SOME  AMERICAN   MEDICAL  BOTANISTS 

botany  in  the  College  of  Philadelphia,  being 
the  first  professor  of  this  science  in  America. 
As  a  lecturer,  in  his  five  or  six  professorships 
held,  "  he  was  faithful  and  clear  in  the  descrip- 
tion of  diseases  and  in  the  mode  of  applying  their 
appropriate  remedies,  avoiding  theoretical  dis- 
cussions." In  1774  he  assisted  in  inoculating  a 
population  considerably  decimated  by  small-pox 
in  Philadelphia. 

His  other  appointments  included:  Physician 
to  the  Pennsylvania  Hospital ;  consulting  physi- 
cian, Philadelphia  Dispensary,  1786;  one  of  the 
founders,  and  in  1808  president,  of  the  College  of 
Physicians  of  Philadelphia;  professor  of  the 
theory  and  practice  of  medicine,  University  of 
Pennsylvania,  1789;  and  on  the  junction  of  the 
two  medical  schools  of  the  College  and  Uni- 
versity, he  was  chosen  professor  of  the  practice 
of  physic,  1792-1797. 

Of  his  writings,  with  the  exception  of  the 
thesis  mentioned,  nothing  can  be  traced  save  a 
short  letter  addressed  to  Dr.  Lettsom  on  Diseases 
Succeeding  Transplantation  of  Teeth?  and  a 
paper  in  which  he  opposed  Rush's  Treatment  of 
Yellow  Fever  by  publishing  his  own,  over  ini- 
tials, in  the  General  Advertizer  of  September  1 1, 

1793  (?)• 
Of  Adam  Kuhn,  Dr.  Charles  Caldwell,  cold, 

cautious,  and  sarcastic,  says : 

8  Memoirs  of  the  Med.  Soc.  of  London,  vol.  i. 


ADAM   KUHN  73 

"  He  was  by  far  the  most  highly  and  minutely 
furnished  specimen  of  old-school  medical  pro- 
duction I  have  ever  beheld.  He  wore  a  fashion- 
able curled  and  powdered  wig;  his  breeches  were 
black,  a  long  skirted  buff  or  white  waistcoat,  his 
coat  snuff-colored.  He  carried  a  gold-headed 
cane  and  a  gold  snuff-box;  his  knee  and  shoe 
buckles  of  the  same  metal.  His  footsteps  were 
sternly  and  stubbornly  regular;  he  entered  the 
sick-room  at  a  given  minute  and  stayed  a  given 
time,  and  never  suffered  deviation  from  his 
directions.  '  Doctor,  if  the  patient  should  desire 
toast,  water  or  lemonade  may  he  have  it?  '  asked 
the  nurse  sometimes.  He  would  turn  and  reply 
with  oracular  solemnity,  '  I  have  directed  weak 
sage  tea.  Good  morning  madam/  His  lectures, 
not  instructive,  were  mere  commonplace.  So  far 
from  containing  an  original  thought,  no  portion 
of  them  appeared  to  be  the  professor's  own." 

This  was  pretty  strong,  yet  he  adds,  without 
commendation,  that  Kuhn  came  to  see  him 
(Caldwell)  three  times  a  day  when  he  was  ill. 

Linnaeus,  following  a  pretty  fancy,  named  an 
American  plant  Kuhnia  (Kuhnla  Eupatorioi- 
des)  after  Adam,  and  when  the  latter  returned  to 
Philadelphia  wrote  very  intimate  and  graceful 
letters  to  him  in  fine  Latin.  One  has  this  injunc- 
tion in  it:  "I  pray  and  entreat  thee  send  some 
seeds  and  plants,  among  which  I  ardently  desire 


74       SOME  AMERICAN   MEDICAL  BOTANISTS 

the  seeds  of  the  Kuhnia,  which  perished  in  our 
garden." 

It  would  be  pleasant  to  know  more  of  Kuhn, 
but  the  short-lengthed,  long-adjectived,  pompous 
biographies  in  old  medical  journals  do  not  give 
much.  One  writer  calls  him  "  a  discreet  young 
physician,  not  remarkable  for  powers  of  imagi- 
nation, but  his  talent  for  observation  profound;  a 
lover  of  music,  abstemious  in  diet,  neat  in  per- 
son." 

He  did  not  marry  until  he  was  thirty-nine, 
after  which  it  is  gratifying  to  learn  "  he  had  two 
sons,  respectable  characters,"  by  his  wife  Eliza- 
beth, daughter  of  Isaac  Hartman  of  St.  Croix. 

When  seventy-three  he  "  grieved  "  his  patients 
by  giving  up  practice,  and  in  June,  1817,  began  to 
feel  conscious  that  life  was  ending.  After  a  short 
confinement  of  three  weeks  to  the  house,  but 
suffering  no  pain,  Adam  Kuhn  passed  away  on 
July  5,  in  full  serenity  of  mind  and  heart. 

Eclectic  Repertory,  Philadelphia,  1818.    Dr.  S.  Powell  Griffiths. 
Stoever's  Life  of  Linnaeus. 

Autobiography  of  Charles  Caldwell,  Philadelphia,  1855. 
The  Botanists  of  Philadelphia,  1899.    Harshberger. 


MOSES  MARSHALL 

1758-1813 
Marshallla  trlnerva — SCHREBER 

The  fame  of  this  expert  medical  botanist  has 
been  somewhat  eclipsed  by  that  of  his  uncle 
Humphry  (not  a  doctor),  of  whom  Darlington 
left  studious  and  loving  record  in  his  Memorials 
of  Bartram  and  Marshall,  but  Moses  made  sev- 
eral long  exploring  journeys  through  the  wilds 
of  the  West  and  rendered  valuable  assistance  to 
his  uncle  in  preparing  the  Arbustum  Ameri- 
canum  (1785). 

He  was  the  son  of  James  and  Sarah  Marshall 
and  the  grandson  of  Abraham  Marshall,  who 
came  from  Gratton,  Derbyshire,  England,  to 
Delaware,  in  1697.  West  Bradford,  Chester 
County,  Pennsylvania,  was  his  birthplace;  when 
he  was  twenty,  Dr.  Nicholas  Way,  of  Wilming- 
ton, New  Castle  County,  undertook  (1776)  "  to 
instruct  Moses  Marshall,  son  of  the  said  James, 
in  the  art  of  physick,  according  to  the  best  of  his 
understanding,  for  the  space  of  two  years,  which 
time  the  said  Marshall  is  to  abide  with  him  and 
his  wife,"  £75  being  the  sum  paid.  Moses  did 
not  trouble  himself  about  a  medical  degree— 

75 


76       SOME  AMERICAN   MEDICAL   BOTANISTS 

which  was  not  demanded  at  that  time,  nor  for  a 
hundred  years  later,  for  practice  in  Pennsyl- 
vania— but  he  had  good  surgical  practice  in  tend- 
ing the  soldiers  wounded  in  the  Battle  of  Brandy- 
wine,  September  n,  1777. 

As  it  was  customary  to  attend  a  course  of  lec- 
tures, he  went  to  hear  William  Shippen  and 
Rush  at  a  cost  to  his  father,  owing  to  the  de- 
preciation of  paper  currency,  of  £150.  His 
diary  at  this  time  shows  medicine  not  wholly  ab- 
sorbing, for  frequent  mention  is  made  of  a  cer- 
tain Polly  Howell  and  of  Sally  Samson,  the  latter 
"  behaving  for  three  evenings,  especially  the  last, 
in  a  most  engaging  manner."  Then  followed  a 
year  or  two  of  desultory  medical  work,  including 
inoculations  round  about  London  Grove,  Penn- 
sylvania, and  the  keeping  of  an  apothecary's  shop 
"  which  came  to  nothing  and  less."  The  truth 
was  he  had  not  found  his  true  vocation,  which 
was  botanizing.  His  uncle  writes  to  Franklin  in 
1785,  and  Moses  himself  to  Dr.  Lettsom  in  Lon- 
don, suggesting  a  government-supported  explora- 
tion of  the  western  states.  That  he  was  competent 
to  lead  one  was  known  from  the  fact  that  he  had 
already  made  a  botanical  trip  to  Pittsburg,  the 
party  travelling  in  wagons.  "  We  have  been," 
he  writes  to  his  uncle,  "  among  the  pine  mount- 
ains, where  we  have  seen  cucumber  trees,  rho- 
dodendrons, mountain  raspberries,  and  yester- 


MOSES   MARSHALL  77 

day,  about  Juniata,  the  broad  willow-leaved  oak 
and  the  red-berried  elder."  A  careful  entry  was 
made  of  everything  interesting,  and  he  speaks  of 
intending  to  bring  home  specimens  of  the  horse- 
chestnut  tree. 

In  1786  Sir  Joseph  Banks  wrote  Humphry 
Marshall,  asking  for  one  hundredweight  of  fresh 
ginseng  roots.  Moses  spent  twenty  days  in  the 
Alleghanies  getting  these,  and  charged  Lettsom 
$1.25  a  pound,  not  a  high  price,  considering  the 
perils  encountered;  and  uncle  Humphry  Mar- 
shall lets  Sir  Joseph  know  that  the  ginseng  had 
been  obtained  at  considerable  expense,  by  telling 
him  that  his  nephew  had  had  to  "  travel  about 
200  miles  to  the  westward  through  a  dismal 
mountainous  part  of  our  country,  as  the  ginseng 
is  either  dug  up  for  sale,  or  rooted  up  by  the  hogs, 
so  much  that  it  begins  to  grow  scarce  in  the  hab- 
itable parts He  was  likewise  obliged  to 

hire  a  person  at  a  dollar  a  day  to  assist  him  in 
digging  said  ginseng,  both  of  them  being  obliged 
to  camp  in  the  mountains,  strike  up  a  fire,  and  lie 

by  it  all  night If  thou  thinkest   [the 

price]  too  much,  be  pleased  to  pay  what  thou 
thinkest  would  be  a  compensation."  It  is  then 
he  asks  if  Moses  could  be  employed  by  the  Royal 
Society.1 

1  When  I  was  a  boy,  the  natives  were  still  digging  ginseng  roots 
in  the  Alleghany  njountains  of  Pennsylvania  and  selling  them  at  a 
dollar  a  pound,  and  dreaming  of  the  fortune  to  be  made  by  a  ginseng 
farm.  H.  A.  K. 


78       SOME  AMERICAN   MEDICAL  BOTANISTS 

Lettsom  and  Moses  Marshall  seem  to  have 
carried  on  a  brisk  correspondence,  especially  con- 
cerning the  Talinum  teretifolium,  hitherto  un- 
described  by  botanists.  He  sends  Lettsom  three 
tortoises  and  some  plants,  one  of  which,  a  Poly- 
gala,  is  thus  mentioned  in  a  letter: 

"  Should  this  prove  to  be  a  new  genus,  I  had 
designed  the  appellation  of  Lettsomia,  with  this 
provision,  that  it  might  not  be  unpleasing  to  thee, 
and  that,  in  the  interim,  I  should  not  be  able  to 
discover  a  plant  more  exalted,  conspicuous  and 
worthy."  He  also  asks  for  a  "  surgeon's  pouch 
of  instruments "  to  be  sent  him,  and  Lettsom 
hastens  to  acknowledge  the  compliment  of  a 
floral  godchild  and  encloses  ten  pounds  in  case 
Moses  should  be  out  of  pocket  for  seeds  asked  for. 
A  plant  was  also  named  after  Moses,  but  many 
authorities  have  claimed  the  Marshallia  for  his 
uncle.  Two  letters  of  1792  have  recently  come  to 
light  which  settle  the  question.  Muhlenberg,  the 
correspondent,  was  himself  a  leading  Philadel- 
phia botanist: 

"Dear  Sir: 

"  I  beg  leave  to  inform  you  that  the  new  edi- 
tion of  the  Genera  Linnaei  is  safely  arrived.  I 
am  happy  to  see  that  the  editor,  my  friend  Dr. 
Schreber,  has  done  wrhat  I  requested  of  him.  He 
has  given  your  name  to  a  hitherto  undescribed 
plant  that  belongs  to  the  Syngenesia  which  he 


MOSES  MARSHALL  79 

names  the  Marshallia.  Give  my  best  respects  to 
your  uncle,  Mr.  Humphry  Marshall,  and  believe 
me  with  great  esteem,  sir, 

"  Your  humble  servant, 

"  Henry  Muhlenberg." 

In  a  collection  of  the  Marshall  papers  in  the 
possession  of  Gilbert  Cope,  there  is  the  following 
copy  of  the  reply  to  this  note  in  the  handwriting 
of  Dr.  Marshall: 

"  West  Bradford,  April  13,  1792. 
"  Reverend  Sir:  I  have  just  received  yours  of 
the  ninth  instant,  and  am  much  pleased  to  hear  of 
the  arrival  of  the  Genera  Plantarum.  I  am  very 
sensible  of  the  honor  done  me,  through  your  re- 
quest, by  Dr.  Schreber,  and  think  myself  but  too 
undeserving.  I  shall  be  pleased  in  your  calling 
on  your  intended  journey,  and  hope  you  will  con- 
sider my  uncle's  house  as  a  welcome  stage.  I  am, 
with  all  due  respect, 

"  Your  much  obliged  friend, 

"  Moses  Marshall." 

In  the  glimpses  of  Marshall  seen  in  biog- 
raphies of  other  doctors,  he  appears  as  an  in- 
defatigable traveller;  for  he  tells  Sir  Joseph 
Banks,  in  1790: 

"  In  May  last  I  set  out  upon  a  botanic  tour  by 
way  of  Juniata  to  Pittsburg,  thence  southward  up 
the  Monongahela  upon  Green  Briar  River,  over 


8o       SOME  AMERICAN   MEDICAL   BOTANISTS 

New  River  to  Holston,  Nolichucky,  etc.  Then, 
crossing  the  high  and  great  chain  of  mountains, 
came  upon  the  head  waters  of  Santee  in  South 
Carolina,  thence  by  Ninety-six  to  Augusta  and 
to  Savannah  Town,  and  continuing  southwest  to 

the  river  Alatamaha  in  Georgia I  then 

returned  to  Charleston,  making  a  route  of  about 
1600  miles,  and  thence  by  water  to  Philadel- 
phia  

"  Notwithstanding  the  great  fatigue,  the  dan- 
ger and  the  expense  in  travelling,  I  have  in  con- 
templation a  second  and  yet  more  extensive 
route." 

The  suggested  exploration  of  the  country  west 
of  the  Mississippi  did  not  come  off  in  Marshall's 
time,  though  Thomas  Jefferson  was  active  in 
planning  one  and  Dr.  Caspar  Wistar  thought  he 
could  raise  a  subscription  guaranteeing  "  one 
thousand  guineas  to  any  one  who  undertakes  the 
journey  and  can  bring  satisfactory  proof  of  hav- 
ing crossed  the  South  Sea." 

Like  Golden,  Marshall  entered  into  civic  life, 
and  became  Justice  of  the  Peace  in  1 796.  He  still 
did  a  little  botanizing  and  shipped  seeds  to 
Europe,  but  when  Humphry  Marshall  died, 
leaving  a  considerable  part  of  his  farm  west  of 
the  Brandywine  to  Moses,  the  latter  seems  to  have 
become  a  private  country  gentleman.  He  built  a 
house  and  mill  on  the  farmstead ;  and  the  village 


MOSES  MARSHALL  8 1 

of  Northbrook,  formerly  known  as  Marshall's 
Mill  stands  on  the  land. 

About  1797  he  married  Alice  Pennock,  and 
had  six  children.  After  his  uncle's  death  there 
is  not  much  told  of  his  scientific  work,  and  he  died 
on  the  i3th  of  October,  1813. 

Sketch  by  Dr.  William  T.  Sharpless.    West  Chester  Daily  News, 

NOV.    22,    1895. 

Memorials  of  Bartram  and  Marshall.    William  Darlington. 
The  Botanists  of  Philadelphia.    Harshberger. 


CASPAR  WISTAR 

1761-1818 
Wistaria  speciosa — NUTTALL 

Wistaria,  the  beautiful  flowering  vine  with  its 
rich  drooping  spring  cluster,  is  known,  of  course, 
to  all,  and  "  Wistar  parties  "  to  most  of  us;  so  it 
comes  to  pass  that  the  memory  of  one  of  our  great 
surgeons  is  conserved  in  two  emblems  of  festivity 
rather  than,  as  he  perhaps  imagined,  in  his  origi- 
nal observation  and  Description  of  the  Posterior 
Portion  of  the  Ethmoid  Bone  with  the  Triangu- 
lar Bones  Attached. 

His  grandfather,  Caspar  Wistar,  a  German, 
came  to  Philadelphia  in  1717,  and  Dr.  Wistar 
was  born  there  in  1761.  He  had  the  advantage, 
as  a  medical  student  of  sitting  under  Morgan, 
Shippen,  Rush  and  Kuhn,  after  which,  like  most 
men  of  his  day,  he  went  to  Europe,  taking  his 
medical  degree  at  Edinburgh  University.  His 
inaugural  thesis,  De  Animo  Demisso,  was  dedi- 
cated to  Franklin  and  Cullen.  He  studied  under 
Cullen,  and,  rare  honor  for  a  youthful  stranger, 
was  twice  president  of  the  Royal  Medical  Society 
of  Edinburgh. 

He  was  initiated  into  practice  under  Dr.  John 
Jones,  author  of  the  first  work  on  surgery  in 

82 


CASPAR  WISTAR 
(From  a  family  portrait) 


CASPAR  WISTAR  83 

America,  which  appeared  in  1776,  and  was  ap- 
pointed Professor  of  Chemistry  and  Physiology 
in  the  College  of  Philadelphia,  1789.  From 
1793  to  1 8 10  he  was  physician  to  the  Pennsylvania 
Hospital.  The  work  of  the  American  Philo- 
sophical Society,  of  which  he  became  president 
in  1815,  interested  him  greatly,  and  he  did  much 
to  stimulate  the  society  into  collecting  the  fleeting 
materials  of  American  history.  After  the  death 
of  Shippen  in  1808,  he  became  Professor  of 
Anatomy  in  the  Medical  School  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Pennsylvania,  using  such  fine  descrip- 
tive powers  that  the  students  flocked  to  listen ;  and 
after  the  lectures  they  thronged  around  him,  for 
his  manner  convinced  them  that  their  interests 
were  paramount  to  his  convenience.  He  used 
also  to  invite  them  to  his  house,  and  Dr.  Caspar 
Morris  says,  "  His  urbane  manner  and  happy 
faculty  of  engaging  them  in  conversation  relieved 
the  frigid  formality  which  usually  settles  on  such 
assemblages.  No  sooner  would  Dr.  Wistar  enter 
the  room,  around  the  wall  of  which  some  twenty 
or  thirty  young  men  but  little  acquainted  with 
each  other  were  arranged  in  awful  expectancy, 
than  he  would  draw  them  into  conversation  and 
give  freedom  to  their  powers  pent  up,  not  so  much 
by  ignorance,  as  timidity." 

His  sociability  and  teaching  did  not  leave  him 
much  time  for  writing,  but  he  got  through  a  Sys- 


84       SOME  AMERICAN   MEDICAL  BOTANISTS 

tern  of  Anatomy,  an  excellent  work,  sent  some 
papers  to  the  Transactions  of  the  American 
Philosophical  Society  and  made  a  contribution  to 
the  anatomy  of  the  ethmoid  bone,  as  described  by 
Tilghman.  Bardeen  says  Wistar  was  undoubt- 
edly the  first  to  describe  the  posterior  portion  of 
the  ethmoid  bone  in  its  most  perfect  state;  viz., 
with  the  triangular  bones  attached  to  it.  Anat- 
omy was  his  forte,  but  he  was  learned  also  in  the 
natural  sciences  and  collected  a  number  of  sub- 
jects for  the  study  of  comparative  anatomy.  He 
kept  up  a  delightful  correspondence  with  Correa 
da  Serra,  the  botanist,  and  such  men  as  Hum- 
boldt,  Soemmering,  Camper,  Michaux,  Mar- 
shall and  other  scientists. 

When  Humphry  Marshall,  the  great  botanist, 
was  seventy-one,  young  Wistar  performed  on  him 
the  operation  of  couching  for  cataract,  with 
partial  success,  for  the  old  man  was  at  least  en- 
abled to  distinguish  his  favorite  plants  as  he 
walked  in  his  garden.  Were  the  instruments 
those  in  the  case  Wistar  afterwards  gave  to  his 
pupil,  Short,1  another  botanist,  when  the  latter 
left  him  for  his  home  in  the  South?  I  had  a 
pleasant  note  from  Dr.  Thomas  Wistar  of  Phila- 
delphia in  answer  to  one  of  thanks  for  a  portrait 
of  his  great  uncle: 

1  See  Biography  of  Short. 


CASPAR  WISTAR  85 

"  Dear  Dr.  Kelly: 

"  Well  may  you  be  '  in  love  with  Dr.  Wistar.' 
Every  one  was  in  love  with  him !  It  was  probably 
his  most  marked  characteristic  to  draw  the  ad- 
miration, love  and  respect  of  all  with  whom  he 
came  in  contact.  By  virtue  of  his  social  and 
scholarly  instincts  his  rooms  were  informally 
open  to  his  friends  on  Sunday,  later  (by  request 
of  his  wife)  on  Saturday  evenings,  when  tea  and 
cake  were  handed,  and  every  savant  from  far  and 
near  was  sure  of  an  invitation  to  his  salon." 

Once  a  week,  in  his  house  at  the  southwest 
corner  of  Fourth  and  Locust  Streets,  he  received 
his  friends  and  any  distinguished  strangers  who 
happened  to  be  in  town.  After  Wistar's  death 
his  friends  kept  up  these  "  Wistar  Parties  "  in  one 
another's  house  for  over  forty  years.  The  mem- 
bers were  fifty  in  number  and  members  of  the 
American  Philosophical  Society.  S.  D.  Gross 
was  the  one  who  gave  the  last  party.  Wistar  died 
suddenly  on  January  18,  1818,  of  heart  disease; 
his  last  words  were:  "  I  wish  well  to  all  man- 
kind." His  memory  has  been  perpetuated  in  the 
Wistar  Institute  of  Anatomy  and  Biology,  Phila- 
delphia, and  in  the  Wistaria,  concerning  which 
his  great  nephew,  Dr.  Thomas  Wistar,  writes  to 
me: 

"  As  to  the  naming  of  the  genus  Wistaria  in 
honor  of  Dr.  Caspar  Wistar,  there  is  not  the 


86       SOME  AMERICAN   MEDICAL  BOTANISTS 

slightest  doubt  of  this  fact,  although  the  same 
honor  has  been  claimed  in  favor  of  the  late 
Charles  J.  Wister  (notWistar)  of  Germantown, 
who,  with  Dr.  Wistar,  was  also  a  personal  friend 
of  Thomas  Nuttall,  the  distinguished  botanist, 
and  no  mean  botanist  himself.  Dr.  Caspar  Wis- 
tar and  Charles  J.  Wister  were  relatives,  de- 
scended from  a  common  ancestor  in  the  Palati- 
nate, near  Heidelberg,  Germany.  The  books,  so 
far  as  I  have  seen,  seem  to  credit  Nuttall  with 
naming  the  new  genus  Wisteria — its  many  vari- 
eties or  species  making  it  quite  distinct  from  the 
genus  Glycinae,  with  which  it  was  formerly  clas- 
sified. But  it  is  a  very  fixed  and  positive  tradition 
in  our  family  that  the  famous  Abbe  Correa  da 
Serra  gave  the  name  Wistaria  to  this  beautiful 
climber  in  honor  of  his  friend  Dr.  Wistar.  So  I 
have  always  heard  it  stated  in  the  family  as  a 
fixed  fact,  without  doubt  or  question,  by  my 
father  and  several  uncles  and  aunts  long  since 
dead,  and  others,  all  of  whom  were  contem- 
poraries and  ardent  admirers  of  Dr.  Wistar,  and 
all  persons  of  the  highest  reputation  for  intelli- 
gence, truth  and  probity;  yet  I  have  nothing  to 
prove  it — no  letters  or  documentary  evidence — 
and  it  is  now  rather  late  in  the  day  to  find  such 
corroboration.  Our  family — the  Wistars — have 
been  justly  criticised  for  their  seeming  indiffer- 
ence or  lack  of  active  interest  in  this  matter;  but 


, ,, «, 


WISTARIA    SPECIOSA 
(From  Southern   Wild  Flowers  and  Trees,  Lounsberry) 


CASPAR  WISTAR  87 

may  we  not  readily  believe  that,  on  the  first  an- 
nouncement of  the  new  genus  comprising  all  the 
varieties  or  specimens  of  this  beautiful  plant,  the 
ardent  Abbe  himself  at  once  gave  it  the  name 
Wistaria,  and  that  this  worthy  tribute  to  their 
mutual  friend  and  fellow-botanist,  Dr.  Wistar, 
was  readily  accepted  and  adopted  by  the  dis- 
tinguished author  Nuttall?"2 

His  biographers  tell  us  that  soon  after  his  re- 
turn from  Europe  "  he  was  united  in  matri- 
mony "  with  Isabella  Marshall,  but  she  died 
childless.  Eight  years  later  he  married  Eliza- 
beth Mifflin,  who  made  him  happy  with  two  sons 
and  a  daughter.  He  was  a  Quaker  and  a  re- 
ligious man,  and  brought  up  his  children  to 
revere  God's  word,  of  which  he  carried  a  cher- 
ished copy  given  him  by  Dr.  Charles  Stuart  of 
Edinburgh.  He  often  took  his  children  out  in 
the  carriage  with  him  to  talk  of  the  teachings  of 
the  Bible. 

A  Tribute  to  the  Memory  of  Caspar  Wistar.    D.  Hosack. 
An   Eulogium   in    Commemoration    of    Dr.    Caspar    Wistar.     W. 
Tilghman. 

An  Eulogium  on  Caspar  Wistar.    C.  Caldwell. 
Communications  from  the  Wistar  family. 


*  Nuttall  writes  'Wisteria,'  but  states  it  was  named  after  Dr.  Caspar 
Wistar.  (E.  J.  Nolan.) 

Gray  calls  it  Wistaria  and  that  is  sufficient  to  settle  the  matter  for 
any  lay  American  community. 


BENJAMIN  SMITH  BARTON 

1766-1815 
Bartonia  decapetala — MUHLENBURG 

In  Lancaster,  Pennsylvania,  on  February  10, 
1766,  Benjamin  Smith  Barton  came  into  the 
world  with  a  fair  heritage  of  theology  from  his 
father,  an  Episcopal  clergyman,  and  of  science 
from  his  mother,  sister  to  David  Rittenhouse,  the 
astronomer.  The  father,  Thomas  Barton,  seems 
also  to  have  been  a  scientist,  for  he  was  a  member 
of  the  American  Philosophical  Society  and  a 
correspondent  of  Linnaeus. 

Benjamin  Smith  was  only  eight  when  his 
mother  died,  and  but  fourteen  when  left  an 
orphan.  His  taste  for  botany  developed  early, 
and  his  knowledge  of  drawing  was  increased  by 
lessons  from  Major  Andre,  then  a  prisoner  of  war 
at  Lancaster,  Pennsylvania. 

He  went  to  live  with  an  elder  brother  and  be- 
came a  student  at  the  College  of  Philadelphia, 
beginning  his  medical  studies  under  Dr.  William 
Shippen,  Jr.  While  still  a  pupil  with  him,  he 
journeyed  with  his  maternal  uncle,  David  Ritten- 
house, and  the  other  commissioners  appointed  to 
survey  the  western  boundary  of  Pennsylvania, 

88 


BENJAMIN   SMITH   BARTON,   M.  D. 
(From  a  mezzotint  by  St.  Memim,  by  permission  of  Professor  Uri  Lloyd) 


BENJAMIN  SMITH  BARTON  89 

thus  having  his  attention  directed  to  the  study  of 
the  Indian  tribes,  a  subject  which  interested  him 
throughout  life. 

Like  many  young  medical  students  of  those 
days,  he  went  to  Europe  to  study,  and,  as  the 
voyage  was  apt  to  run  into  two  months,  the 
medical  adventurer  had  time  to  read  and  plan  his 
life  there. 

Except  for  a  few  months  in  London,  Barton 
stayed  the  whole  of  two  years  in  Edinburgh,  and 
while  there  made  his  first  venture  in  authorship 
with  his  Observations  on  Some  Parts  of  Natural 
History,  to  which  is  prefixed  an  account  of  some 
considerable  vestiges  of  an  ancient  date  which 
have  been  discovered  in  different  parts  of  North 
America  (1787). 

He  left  Edinburgh  before  graduating,  and 
took  his  M.  D.  at  Gottingen.  His  reasons  for  not 
taking  it  at  Edinburgh  are  set  forth  in  a  letter  to 
his  brother,  written  in  London  in  1789  in  which 
he  states  that  he  preferred  getting  his  diploma 
from  Gottingen  because  he  was  dissatisfied  with 
the  discourteous  manner  in  which  two  of  the  pro- 
fessors at  the  University  of  Edinburgh  had 
treated  him.  However,  he  did  receive  several 
honors,  the  membership  of  the  Royal  Society  of 
Edinburgh,  and  an  honorary  premium  from  that 
society  for  his  dissertation  on  Hyoscyamus  Niger, 
the  Harveian  prize,  consisting  of  a  superb  quarto 
edition  of  the  works  of  William  Harvey. 


90        SOME  AMERICAN  MEDICAL  BOTANISTS 

In  1789,  carrying  this  prize  with  him,  and 
a  more  valuable  possession,  the  friendship  of 
John  Hunter  and  Lettsom,  he  set  sail  for  Amer- 
ica and  Philadelphia,  where  his  merits  were 
speedily  recognized,  particularly  as  a  natural 
scientist.  There  was  no  "  Chair  of  Natural 
History  "  in  the  College  of  Philadelphia,  so  a 
wise  Board  created  one,  adding  "  Botany  " ;  and 
when  the  College  and  the  University  of  Pennsyl- 
vania united  (1791),  Barton  still  kept  the  pro- 
fessorship, along  with  the  post  of  physician  to  the 
Pennsylvania  Hospital,  taken  on  in  1798.  He 
finally  succeeded  Rush  as  Professor  of  the 
Theory  and  Practice  of  Medicine  in  1813. 

For  a  busy  and  not  very  strong  man  he  wrote 
a  good  deal  at  this  time,  notably  A  Memoir  con- 
cerning the  fascinating  faculty  which  has  been 
ascribed  to  the  Rattlesnake,  etc.,  1796.  This  had 
a  supplement  in  1800  and  a  second  edition  in 
1814.  His  Elements  of  Botany  (30  plates)  came 
out  in  1803;  a  second  edition,  in  1812.  The 
preface  says: 

"  The  different  branches  of  Natural  History, 
particularly  Zoology  and  Botany,  have  been  my 
favorite  studies  from  a  very  early  period  of  my 
life.  The  happiest  hours  of  near  sixteen  years  of 
cares,  of  difficulties,  or  of  sickness,  have  been  de- 
voted to  the  cultivation  of  these  interesting 
sciences.  During  this  long  period  I  have  never 


BENJAMIN  SMITH  BARTON  91 

ceased  to  look  forward,  as  I  still  look  forward, 
to  the  time  when  Natural  History,  including 
Botany,  shall  be  taught  as  an  indispensable 
branch  in  our  University." 

In  1805  he  started  publishing  the  Medical  and 
Physical  Journal,  and  he  also  wrote  many  short 
articles  on  topics  connected  with  medicine,  his- 
tory and  archaeology,  much  of  his  work  appear- 
ing in  the  Transactions  of  the  American  Philo- 
sophical Society. 

He  was  remembered  by  his  immediate  suc- 
cessors in  the  University  as  a  man  of  extraordi- 
nary industry,  quick  to  perceive  his  own  limita- 
tions, equally  quick  to  recognize  the  man  who 
could  help,  yet  keeping  step  with  him  for  accu- 
rate data  by  means  of  his  wonderful  memory  and 
appreciation  of  fine  detailing. 

In  temperament  he  was  irritable  and  even 
choleric,  and  his  manners  were  consequently 
variable,  impetuous,  vehement.  So  writes  his 
nephew,  William  P.  C.  Barton,  and  this,  of  a 
tuberculous,  gouty  man  loaded  up  with  work,  is 
probably  accurate.  He  had  married  (1797)  a 
daughter  of  Edward  Pennington,  of  Philadel- 
phia, and  had  two  children,  a  son,  Thomas  Pen- 
nant, who  was  American  Charge  d' Affaires  in 
Paris,  1836,  and  a  daughter. 

Owing  to  constant  attacks  of  gout,  Barton  was 
unable  to  take  long  botanical  excursions  like  his 


92        SOME  AMERICAN  MEDICAL  BOTANISTS 

fellow-scientists;  but  having  made  friends  with 
Frederick  Pursh,  he  financed  this  botanist  for  a 
journey  through  the  mountain  chains  of  Virginia 
and  Carolina,  returning  through  the  coast  lands 

(1805). 

In  1807  there  came  to  America  a  young  bot- 
anist, Thomas  Nuttall,1  "  who  visited  nearly  all 
the  States  of  the  Union,  and  made  more  discov- 
eries than  any  other  explorer  of  the  botany  of 
North  America."  Barton  met  him  in  Philadel- 
phia and  "  omitted  no  opportunity  of  fostering 
his  zeal  and  of  endeavoring  to  extend  his  knowl- 
edge. He  had  constant  access  to  my  house  and 
the  benefit  of  my  botanical  books." 

It  is  easy  to  imagine  the  two  men  sorting  up 
and  classifying  the  specimens  Nuttall  found,  and 
the  talk  they  would  have  of  plants  not  indigenous. 
Nuttall  had  but  scanty  means,  Barton  an  equally 
scanty  store  of  health.  What  better  solution  than 
their  combination  of  forces? 

So,  armed  with  "  a  considerable  collection  of 
manuscript  queries  and  memoranda,"  Nuttall 
set  off  with  Bradbury,  in  April,  1810,  to 
explore  the  northern  and  northwestern  parts  of 
the  United  States.  Barton  says :  "Among  a  very 
considerable  number  of  plants  which  he  observed 
and  collected  in  the  course  of  his  journey,  there 
were  two  species  of  a  genus  which  he  observes 

Thomas  Nuttall,  1786-1859. 


BENJAMIN  SMITH  BARTON  93 

in  his  notes  to  have  the  'f  acies'  or  aspect  of  cactus, 
and  which  he  very  properly  referred  to  the  class 
and  order  of  Icosandria  monogynia — he  names 
this  genus  Bartonia.  One  of  the  species  he  calls 
Bartonia  superba  and  the  other  Bartonia  poly- 
petala.  The  former  he  found  in  flower  in  August 
and  September;  growing  all  the  way  from  the 
river  Platte  to  the  Andes,  on  broken  hills  and  the 
clefts  of  rocks  (Pursh  adds,  not,  I  fear,  on  the 
best  authority, '  and  on  volcanic  soil ') .  He  speaks 
of  it  as  a  plant  (herba)  about  three  feet  high, 
whose  '  splendid  flower  expands  only  in  the  even- 
ing, suddenly  opening  after  remaining  closed 
during  the  day,  and  diffusing  a  most  agreeable 
odour.'  It  may  justly  rank  (he  adds)  with  the 
most  splendid  plants  of  either  America,  and  very 
probably  inhabits  Mexico,  if  not  South  America. 

"  The  other  species,  Bartonia  polypetala,  he 
describes  as  a  perennial,  growing  on  gravelly 
hills,  near  the  Grand  Detour,  and  flowering  in 
August." 

Other  honors  besides  floral  ones  held  by  Bar- 
ton included  membership  of  the  Imperial  Society 
of  Naturalists  of  Moscow;  the  Danish  Royal 
Society  of  Sciences ;  The  Linnaen  Society  of  Lon- 
don ;  and  the  Society  of  Antiquaries,  Scotland. 

The  naming  of  the  plants  must  have  given 
pleasure  to  the  man  who  so  willingly  sojourned 
with  Nuttall.  He  spent  his  leisure  during  this 


94        SOME  AMERICAN  MEDICAL  BOTANISTS 

time  in  getting  as  far  as  74  printed  pages  in  his 
Flora  Virginica,  and  a  new  edition  of  the  first 
volume  of  the  Elements  of  Botany,  the  second 
volume  of  this  edition  appearing  in  1814;  also 
in  this  year  the  first  part  of  the  Archaeologlae 
Americanae  Telluris  Collectanea  et  Specimina, 
64  pages,  and  a  new  edition  of  his  memoir  on 
the  fascinating  faculty  of  various  kinds  of  ser- 
pents. 

"  The  pernicious  consequences  of  his  midnight 
and  injudicious  toils "  sapped  his  vitality.  A 
severe  hemorrhage  interrupted  his  work,  and  in 
April,  1815,  he  tried  a  sea  voyage  to  France, 
returning  by  England.  Landing  in  New  York 
in  November,  he  had  not  strength  to  get  on  home, 
being  laid  up  for  three  weeks  by  hydrothorax. 
Travelling  slowly  home,  by  ship  or  one  of  the 
"  highflyer  "  coaches,  he  was  only  fit  for  bed  on 
arrival.  Yet  the  indomitable  spirit  of  work  pre- 
vailed, and  three  days  before  the  end,  and  in 
spite  of  frequent  hemorrhages,  he  wrote  a  paper 
— part  of  which  I  have  quoted — concerning  the 
genus  of  plants  named  in  his  honor,  a  paper 
which  his  nephew,  W.  P.  C.  Barton,  read  at  the 
following  meeting  of  the  American  Philosoph- 
ical Society. 

Early  in  the  morning  of  December  19,  1815, 
Barton  was  found  dead  in  bed.  Relatives,  hastily 
summoned,  receive  no  parting  words,  but  dumbly 


ADVERTISEMENTS. 


The  Swiftsure  Line  of  Stages, 

Running  from  New  York  and  Philadelphia^ 

By  the  shortest,  cheapest,  safest,  and  most  pleasant  road, 

Through  Newark,  SpringEeld,  Scotch-Plains,  Union  Camp, 
Bound-book,  Millstone.  Pemi.ngton,  Newtov/n,  Bustleton,  and, 
Frankford. 

THE  SWIFTSURE 

Starts  from  New-York  at  9  o  clock  every  day  (SundaysexcepU 
ed)  and  arrives  at  Philadelphia,  early  the  next  evening. 

From  Philadelphia  it  starts  from  the  GreenTree,  No,  50  North 
Fourth  street,  at  8  o  clock  every  morning,  and  arrives  at  New 
York  early  the  next  evening 

Fare  for  passengers  5  dollars,  way  passengers  6  cents  per  mile. 
Each  passenger  allowed  1415  of  baggage.  One  hundred  and  fif- 
ty weight  ot  baggage  to  pay  the  same  as  a  passenger. 

All  baggage  to  be  at  the  risk  of  the  owner,  unless  insured 
and  receipted  for  bv  the  clerks  of  the  different  offices.  Rate  of 
insurance  one  per  cent. 

•»•  Apply  to  WILLIAM  VANDERVOORT,  No.  48  Court- 
land  Street,  N.  E.  Corner  of  Greenwich  Street,  New  York,  and 
w  JOliN  M'CALLA,  No.  50  North  Fourth  Street  Philadel- 
phia. 


(From  an  old  advertisement,  1800) 


RICHARD  MEAD 

(From  the  original  sketch  in  the  author's  possession) 


BENJAMIN  SMITH  BARTON  95 

question  the  pale  lips  which  had  perhaps  longed 
to  give  some  last  message — some  instructions  as 
to  his  work.  There  was  so  much  to  be  completed ; 
but,  noting  the  list  of  writings  Prof.  Uri  Lloyd 
has  gathered,2  these,  as  well  as  the  prematurely 
closed  life,  seem  to  merit  the  epitaph  "  Com- 
plete." 

There  is  a  remarkable  resemblance  between 
the  celebrated  English  doctor,  Dr.  Richard  Mead 
(1673-1754),  and  our  American  worthy,  Dr. 
Barton,  as  will  be  seen  from  a  proof  etching  in 
my  possession.  A  beautiful  flowering  plant,  the 
Dodecatheon  Meadia  (Catesby),  is  named  after 
Mead. 

William  Paul  Crillon  Barton,  1783-1856,  his 
nephew,  who  wrote  a  good  biography  of  his 
uncle,  must  have  had  much  in  common  with  him, 
for  he  too  was  a  passionate  botanist.  It  was  the 
fashion  of  those  days  for  students  to  take  the 
name  of  some  hero ;  so  William  became  "  William 
Paul  Crillon  "  Barton,  graduated  M.  D.  in  1808 
from  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  and  became 
a  naval  surgeon  the  following  year.  His  thesis 
On  the  Chemical  Properties  and  Exhilarat- 
ing Effects  of  Nitrous  Oxide  Gas  was  the  stand- 
ard treatise  of  the  time.  From  1816-1822  he  was 
Professor  of  Botany  in  the  University  of  Penn- 
sylvania, but  he  wrote  in  1814  a  famous  Treatise 

*  Bull,  of  the  Lloyd  Library,  No.  i,  1910. 
9 


96        SOME  AMERICAN  MEDICAL  BOTANISTS 

Concerning  the  Internal  Organization  of  Marine 
Hospitals,  and  afterwards  a  Vegetable  Materia 
Medica  of  the  United  States,  2  vols.  in  i,  1817- 
1818,  with  fifty  plates,  drawn  and  colored  by 
the  author.  Following  this,  a  Compendium 
Florae  Philadelphicae,  2  vols.,  1818. 

While  he  was  Professor  of  Natural  Medicine 
and  Botany  at  Jefferson  Medical  College,  he  pub- 
lished his  Outlines  of  Lectures  delivered  there 
(1827),  and  during  the  same  time  his  Flora  of 
North  America,  1821. 

A  mere  list  of  his  writings  fails  to  do  justice 
to  the  wonderful  amount  of  work  done  by  Bar- 
ton. It  would  be  interesting  to  know  more  about 
the  books,  and  about  the  writer  as  an  artist,  but 
details  are  scanty. 

Bull,  of  the  Lloyd  Library.    Reproduction  series,  No.  i,  1900. 
Thacher's  American  Medical  Biography. 

An  account  of  the  life  of  B.  S.  Barton,  by  W.  P.  C.  Barton.    The 
Portfolio,  vol.  i,  No.  4,  April,  1816. 


DAVID  HOSACK 

1769-1835 
Hosackla  bicolor — DOUGLAS 

David  Hosack  was  one  of  those  who  live  for 
to-morrow,  who  doggedly  advocate  and  carry 
out  reforms  for  which  they  themselves  get  neither 
thanks  nor  profit.  He  brought  the  same  keen 
interest  to  bear  on  a  new  town  sewer  as  on  a  new 
view  of  disease  or  a  new  plant  for  his  botanical 
garden. 

He  was  born  on  August  31,  1769,  at  44  Frank- 
fort Street,  New  York,  the  son  of  Alexander  and 
Jane  Arden  Hosack  and  eldest  of  seven  children. 
His  father  came  over  from  Moray,  Scotland,  as 
an  artillery  officer  under  Gen.  Sir  Jeffrey  Am- 
herst,  and  was  at  the  retaking  of  Louisburgh. 
His  mother  was  of  English-French  descent. 

When  about  thirteen,  young  David  went  to 
school  under  the  Rev.  Alexander  McWorter,  of 
Newark,  New  Jersey ;  then  for  a  short  time  to  Dr. 
Peter  Wilson,  of  Hackensack;  and  finally,  in 
1786,  to  Columbia  College,  New  York,  begin- 
ning to  study  medicine  with  Dr.  Richard  Bayley, 
a  New  York  surgeon,  in  1788,  and  graduating 
B.  A.  from  Princeton  in  1789. 

97 


98        SOME  AMERICAN  MEDICAL  BOTANISTS 

His  first  important  step  after  returning  to 
America  was  the  marrying  of  Catherine  Warner, 
"  a  lady  of  great  worth  " ;  his  next,  to  remove  to 
Alexandria,  Virginia,  believing  it  would  become 
the  capital  of  the  United  States.  But  the  call  of 
the  metropolis  was  too  strong,  and  he  returned 
in  1792 ;  and  in  that  year,  seeing  the  necessity  for 
studying  in  the  European  hospitals,  left  his  wife 
and  baby  with  his  parents  and  spent  two  years  in 
Edinburgh  and  London,  meeting  Robert  Burns 
and  all  the  celebrities  of  the  day,  listening  to 
learned  divines  on  Sunday,  and  getting  all  he 
could  during  the  week  from  men  like  Munro, 
Black,  Gregory,  Duncan,  in  Edinburgh,  and  in 
London  consorting  mainly  with  Sir  Joseph 
Banks  and  his  set,  who,  like  himself  were  genuine 
botanists. 

During  the  winter  in  London,  with  the  con- 
currence of  Sir  Joseph  Banks  and  other  scientists, 
his  Observations  on  Vision  was  published  in  the 
Transactions  of  the  Royal  Society,  1794,  and  the 
author  was  duly  thanked.  He  took  full  ad- 
vantage of  his  stay,  dissecting  under  Dr.  Andrew 
Marshall,  studying  chemistry  and  mineralogy 
and  visiting  the  hospitals.  He  had  the  good 
fortune  also  to  make  the  acquaintance  of  William 
Curtis,  author  of  the  Flora  Londinensis,  who  had 
just  completed  a  botanic  garden  at  B  romp  ton, 
London.  Hosack  went  there  nearly  every  day, 


DAVID  HOSACK  99 

and  in  1794  attended  the  lectures  of  Sir  J.  E. 
Smith,  President  of  the  Linnaean  Society. 

A  tedious  journey  of  fifty-three  days  in  the 
Mohawk,  varied  only  by  an  outbreak  of  typhus 
on  board,  brought  him  again  to  New  York, 
where  he  settled  down  to  practise,  helped  some- 
what by  friendships  made  on  board.  The  pro- 
fessorship of  botany  in  Columbia  College  was 
offered  him  in  1795,  and  in  the  autumn  of  that 
year  he  and  the  other  young  doctors  had  plenty 
of  opportunity  to  distinguish  themselves,  as  yel- 
low fever  of  a  malignant  type  broke  out  and 
raged  for  over  four  years.  Hosack  was  inces- 
santly busy,  but  wrote  a  good  deal  on  the  fever, 
urging  always  "  the  sudorific  plan  of  treatment." 

Also  at  this  time  he  took  care  of  Dr.  Samuel 
Bard's  patients  for  a  while,  so  well  that  a  partner- 
ship was  tendered  and  accepted.  This  was  a 
great  compliment  to  Hosack,  and — such  was  the 
I  confidence  in  his  judgment — he  was  often  asked 
by  the  Board  of  Health  to  investigate  diseases. 

His  writings  embraced  many  subjects.  Some 
notable  papers,  Observations  on  Glossitis,  Cases 
of  Anthrax,  Observations  on  Haemorrhage  and 
the  Removal  of  Scirrhous  Tumors  from  the 
Breast  afterwards  appeared  in  his  three  volumes 
of  Medical  Essays,  1824-1830.  His  Practical 
Nosology  came  out  in  1819. 


100     SOME  AMERICAN  MEDICAL  BOTANISTS 

Having  lost  his  wife  and  child,  he  married  on 
December  21,  1797,  Mary,  daughter  of  James 
and  Mary  Darragh  Eddy,  and  had  nine  children. 
The  stress  of  necessity,  perhaps,  and  an  immense 
power  for  work,  made  Hosack  one  of  the  leading 
surgeons  in  New  York.  He  held  the  chair  of 
materia  medica  in  Columbia  College  in  1797; 
that  of  surgery  and  midwifery  in  the  College  of 
Physicians  and  Surgeons  of  New  York  in  1807, 
and  there,  later,  the  chair  of  the  theory  and 
practice  of  physic  and  clinical  medicine. 

In  1808  Hosack  was  the  first  American  to  tie 
the  femoral  artery  for  aneurysm.  He  intro- 
duced the  method  of  treating  hydrocele  by  in- 
jection as  early  as  1795 ;  and  he  insisted,  in  opera- 
tions, upon  the  importance  of  leaving  wounds 
open  to  the  air  in  order  to  check  hemorrhage — 
advocated  later  by  Astley  Cooper  and  Dupuytren. 

Dr.  S.  D.  Gross  writes  affectionately  of  him  in 
his  Autobiography,  and  says : 

"  I  heard  him  discourse  on  fevers.  He  sat  in 
an  armchair  and  read  from  his  manuscript,  but 
frequently  indulged  in  extemporaneous  flights, 
accompanied  by  flashes  of  his  dark  eyes  and  by 
graceful  gesticulation  which  enchained  the  at- 
tention of  his  pupils.  His  manner  was  delight- 
ful, his  voice  commanding After  the 

lecture  was  over,  he  said  to  me :  '  The  New  York 
Philosophical  Society  will  meet  at  my  house  to- 


DAVID  HOSACK  IOI 

night  and  you  must  not  fail  to  come.'  On  my 
arrival  ....  I  was  surprised  to  find  a  large 
assembly  of  gentlemen  and  ladies,  the  former  in- 
cluding eminent  artists,  scientists,  and  authors, 
to  many  of  whom  I  was  presented  by  the  host. 
....  The  menu  embraced  every  available  deli- 
cacy, and  the  wines  were  of  the  best  quality." 

His  love  of  botany  led  to  his  founding  the 
Elgin  Botanic  Garden  in  1801,  about  three  and 
one-half  miles  from  the  city  of  New  York, 
modelling  his  twenty  acres,  perhaps,  on  the  plan 
of  those  he  had  seen  in  London.  The  expenses 
were  defrayed  from  his  own  pocket,  including 
those  for  a  fine  conservatory  for  tropical  plants. 
He  had  under  cultivation  nearly  1500  American 
plants,  besides  exotics.  I  expect  his  floral  god- 
child, Hosackia  bicolor,  named  after  him  by 
Douglas,  the  botanist,  was  there ;  also  a  budding 
hope,  which  never  came  to  fruition,  for  Hosack 
had  imagined  the  state  would  take  the  whole 
thing  over  and  make  it  a  miniature  Jardin  des 
Plantes.  They  did  buy  it,  but  like  many  similar 
investments,  it  was  suffered  to  go  to  ruin.  Im- 
agine Hosack  slowly  pacing  the  walks,  stopping 
to  adjust  a  trailer,  to  nip  a  dead  blossom,  his 
mind  full  of  plans  for  the  various  societies  of 
which  he  was  indeed  an  "  active  "  member  and 
originator.  The  Historical,  Horticultural  and 
New  York  Literary  Societies  and  the  Medical 


102      SOME  AMERICAN  MEDICAL  BOTANISTS 

and  Philosophical  Register  (1810),  all  owed 
much  to  him;  the  Journal  was  run  by  Hosack 
and  the  genial,  witty  Dr.  John  Francis.  He  also 
founded  the  Humane  Society — one  branch  for 
the  recovery  of  persons  nearly  drowned  and 
another  for  the  relief  of  the  indigent  poor;  the 
City  Dispensary  was  remodelled;  and  he  insti- 
tuted medical  lectures  to  policemen. 

As  a  little  play  he  set  to  work  arranging  and 
augmenting  a  cabinet  of  minerals  he  had  brought 
from  Edinburgh — possibly  the  first  collection 
brought  over.  He  eventually  gave  this  to  Prince- 
ton, where  it  was  displayed  in  a  special  room  and 
supplemented  by  the  gift  of  a  fine  lot  of  works 
on  mineralogy. 

Hosack  felt  that  after  fifty  years  of  practice 
he  was  justified  in  retiring  to  his  pretty  country 
home  at  Hyde  Park,  Dutchess  County.  He  had 
married  his  third  wife,  Magdalena,  widow  of 
Henry  A.  Coster,  and  with  her  kept  up  a  good, 
old-fashioned  hospitality,  welcoming,  alike, 
famous  men  and  shy  ambitious  students.  Three 
times,  in  spite  of  his  busy  life  and  large  family, 
he  adopted  into  his  household  and  trained  a  poor 
but  clever  young  man,  one  of  them  being  Delile, 
who  became  superintendent  of  the  Jardin  des 
Plantes,  Montpellier. 

His  son,  Dr.  Alexander  Hosack,  tells  of  the 
fruit  and  flower  gardens,  the  conservatories, 


DAVID  HOSACK  103 

terraced  walks,  model  farm  and  unconscious 
thefts  of  exotics  by  the  villagers,  who  readily  re- 
turned the  plants,  which  had  been  recognized  in 
their  cottage  gardens.  Everything  seemed  to 
point  to  a  calm  old  age;  but  in  December,  1835, 
having  a  presentiment  of  a  coming  paralysis,  he 
began  trying  to  write  with  his  left  hand  On  the 
eighteenth  he  had  an  apoplectic  stroke  from 
which  he  never  rallied. 

Medicine  in  America,  Philadelphia,  1903.    J.  G.  Mumford. 
Amer.  Med.  Biog.,  Philadelphia,  1861.    S.  D.  Gross. 
Autobiography,  Philadelphia,  1887.    S.  D.  Gross. 
Boston  Med.  and  Surg.  Journ.,  1868-1869,  vol.  xlvii. 
Mass.  Med.  Soc.,  Boston,  1868,  vol.  xi. 
American  Med.  Biog.    Williams. 


WILLIAM    BALDWIN 

1779-1819 
Ealdwinia  uniflora — NUTTALL 

William  Baldwin's  name  is  closely  associated 
with  that  of  Darlington.  They  were  classmates 
in  the  University  of  Pennsylvania;  and  when 
Darlington  was  ill,  he  says:  "  My  friend  Bald- 
win promptly  sought  me  out,  devoted  to  me  every 
hour  he  could  command  ....  and  night  and 
day,  like  a  ministering  angel,  was  hovering  round 
my  bed." 

The  botanist  who  makes  his  biographical  debut 
as "  a  ministering  angel  "  was  the  son  of  a  Quaker 
preacher  and  was  born  in  Newlin,  Chester 
County,  Pennsylvania,  on  the  27th  of  March, 
1779.  When  school  days  were  over,  he  studied 
medicine  under  Dr.  William  A.  Todd,  in  Down- 
ingtown,  Chester  County,  taking  his  first  course 
of  medical  lectures  at  the  University  of  Tennessee 
in  1802,  though  when  the  second  session  opened, 
Baldwin,  with  a  full  heart  but  an  empty  purse, 
was  already  back  with  Dr.  Todd,  yet  hoping  for 
better  times  in  order  to  take  his  medical  degree. 

This  blighting  of  budding  ambition  was  really 
the  best  thing  which  could  have  happened,  for,  in 
little  Downingtown,  not  big  Philadelphia,  he  met 

104 


WILLIAM  BALDWIN 
(From  a  portrait  by   Peale) 


WILLIAM  BALDWIN  105 

the  best  friend  he  ever  had,  Dr.  Moses  Marshall, 
son  of  Humphry  Marshall,  the  botanist,  and  Dr. 
Benjamin  Smith  Barton;  and  these  two,  in  pleas- 
ant companionship  of  excursion,  correspondence 
and  study,  made  an  enthusiastic  botanist  of  Bald- 
win. 

Perhaps  because  not  very  strong,  or  from  a  de- 
sire to  travel,  Baldwin  engaged  himself  as  ship's 
surgeon  on  a  vessel  leaving  Philadelphia  for 
Canton.  Our  enterprising  young  botanist  set  out 
lacking  a  medical  degree,  and,  as  a  fellow-pas- 
senger laughingly  told  Darlington,  with  only 
three  shirts  for  the  long  voyage.  But  he  won 
golden  opinions  on  board  as  a  doctor,  and,  when 
he  returned  in  1806,  had  money  enough  to  study 
for  his  M.  D.  at  the  University,  taking  his 
diploma  in  1807  with  a  thesis:  A  Short  Practi- 
cal Narrative  of  the  Diseases  'which  prevailed 
among  the  American  Seamen  at  Wampoa,  in 
China,  in  the  year  1805,  etc.  His  grandson  tells 
me  that  he  bought  a  second-hand  copy  of  this 
Thesis  for  five  cents,  in  which  Baldwin  had  writ- 
ten, "  To  Richard  Brown,  M.  D.,  with  the  best 
wishes  of  his  friend,  the  author." 

He  settled  down  to  practise  in  Wilmington, 
Delaware,  employing  his  leisure  in  studying  the 
local  flora  and  in  courting  and  wedding  one 
Hannah  Webster,  the  daughter  of  a  Wilmington 
druggist,  apparently  a  discreet  maid,  for  Dar- 


106     SOME  AMERICAN  MEDICAL  BOTANISTS 

lington  says  she  had  "  superior  intellectual  en- 
dowments "  and  her  education  had  "  received  a 
classical  finish  quite  unusual  among  American 
females  at  that  day. 

"  They  were  both  Quakers,  and  were  promptly 
turned  out  of  meeting  for  being  married  by 
a  Presbyterian  '  hireling  preacher.'  Baldwin 
apologized  and  was  taken  back.  When  he  en- 
tered the  navy  in  1812,  he  was  again  expelled 
from  the  meeting  and  was  never  reinstated, 
although  he  made  strenuous  efforts.  He  declared 
that  he  had  gone  to  the  war  "  not  to  make  wounds 
but  to  heal  them,"  but  the  reply  was  that  war  was 
such  a  horrible  affair  that  no  good  Quaker — 
more  especially  a  doctor — should  have  anything 
to  do  with  it,  and  he  should  at  least  set  a  good 
example  to  the  nation." 

As  a  complement  to  his  botanical  pleasures  he 
received  one  day  a  letter  from  a  botanist  of  Lan- 
caster, Pennsylvania,  the  Rev.  Henry  Muhlen- 
berg,  who  said : 
"Sir: 

"Will  you  forgive  me,  if  I,  as  a  stranger, 
intrude  upon  your  studies  and  beg  your  acquaint- 
ance? Doctor  Heister,  the  present  physician  of 
the  Lazaretto,  informs  me  that  you  are  a  great 
friend  of  Botany.  I  have  been  the  same  for 
nearly  forty  years  and  have  collected,  of  Ameri- 
can plants  in  particular,  whatever  I  could  get. 


WILLIAM  BALDWIN  107 

The  State  of  Delaware  alone,  amongst  all  others, 
has  contributed  nothing  to  my  Herbarium,  and 
I  am  certain  it  contains  many  new  and  curious 
plants  .  .  .  ." 

Darlington,  when  writing  the  life  of  Baldwin, 
got  possession  of  the  letters  which  followed  and 
happily  includes  them  in  his  Reliquiae  Bald- 
winianae. 

In  1811  Baldwin  reluctantly  had  to  leave  Del- 
aware. Hereditary  tuberculosis — of  which  all 
his  family  eventually  died — made  him  take  to 
an  open-air  life  in  long  foot  journeys  over  Savan- 
nah and  St.  Mary's,  Georgia,  within  Indian  terri- 
tory, "  his  gentle,  inoffensive  demeanour  "  over- 
coming any  hostility. 

The  lurid  light  of  war  in  1812  flashed  across 
the  path  of  our  perambulating  botanist,  and 
American  scientists,  though  zealous  for  their 
country,  openly  lamented  the  cessation  of  letters 
and  exchange  of  specimens  with  their  trans- 
atlantic brothers.  Baldwin  was  requisitioned  as 
navy  surgeon,  the  pay  being  not  unwelcome,  in 
view  of  his  young  family. 

He  served  chiefly  at  St.  Mary's,  Georgia,  and 
when  war  ceased,  seems  to  have  taken  to  botany 
as  a  profession;  for,  after  installing  his  family 
again  in  Wilmington,  he  spent  the  winter  and 
spring  of  1816-1817  exploring  in  East  Florida, 
only  recalled  by  the  news  that  he  had  been 


Io8      SOME  AMERICAN  MEDICAL  BOTANISTS 

appointed  surgeon-botanist  (if  such  a  term  may 
be  used)  to  the  frigate  Congress,  then  under 
weigh  for  an  expedition  to  Buenos  Ayres  and 
other  South  American  ports,  there  to  investigate 
conditions  among  the  Spanish  colonists,  and  the 
"  vegetable  products."  He  writes  to  Darlington 
on  the  eve  of  departure : 

"Although  the  state  of  my  health  is  not  such  as 
to  render  my  situation  alarming,  yet — as  life 
under  any  circumstances  is  uncertain — there  can 
be  no  harm  in  just  mentioning  that,  in  case  I 
should  never  return,  I  leave  all  my  botanical  con- 
cerns to  you,  who,  with  the  aid  of  Z.  Collins, 
must  make  the  best  of  them." 

He  returned  in  1818  rather  better  in  health, 
and  with  a  fine  store  of  specimens  for  his  friends, 
and  a  partly  completed  catalogue  of  them.  His 
time,  when  at  Wilmington,  was  chiefly  occupied 
in  describing  his  treasures — a  description  never 
completed,  resulting  in  two  papers,1  one  in  the 
American  Journal  of  Science,  1819,  one  in  The 
American  Philosophical  Transactions,  1819.  His 
popularity  with  the  government  as  a  wholly  trust- 
worthy servant  was  shown  in  his  appointment 
(1819)  as  surgeon  and  botanist,  to  go  with  Major 
Long  up  the  river  Missouri,  a  most  unfortunate 
voyage  from  every  point  of  view,  judging  from 

1  An  Account  of  two  North  American  Species  of  Rottboellia  discov- 
ered on  the  sea-coast  of  Georgia,  1819.  An  Account  of  two*  North 
American  species  of  Cyperus  from  Georgia,  etc. 


WILLIAM  BALDWIN  109 

the  last  two  letters  ever  received  from  Baldwin  by 
Darlington : 

"  This  boat,  hastily  constructed,  and  built 
entirely  of  unseasoned  timber,  is  almost  daily  in 
want  of  repairs,  and  is  so  leaky  and  wet  that  we 
have  not  a  dry  locker  for  our  clothes.  It  will  be 
with  the  utmost  difficulty  that  I  shall  save  any 
specimens  I  may  collect Little  oppor- 
tunity has  been  afforded  to  the  naturalists  to  do 

anything At  St.  Charles  a  pack  horse 

was  procured  for  $50,  and  Say,  Jessup,  Seymour 
and  Peale  set  out  by  land.  They  accomplished 
no  more  than  they  would  have  done  on  board  the 
boat,  and  suffered  excessively  with  thirst  and  heat 
in  passing  burning  prairies  where  no  water  was 
to  be  found.  The  mail  closes  presently,  and  I 
feel  myself  too  much  indisposed  to  write  or  to 
think  much." 

He  tells,  in  1819,  of  finding  a  specimen  of  his 
own  floral  namesake  in  possession  of  a  German 
botanist:  "In  looking  over  his  collection  I 

found  a  Baldulnia  unlflora I  informed 

him  the  name  would  not  be  adopted  in  this  coun- 
try. He  reprobated,  and  had  changed  the  orthog- 
raphy to Baldwinia"  Neither  the  genus  nor  the 
spelling  pleased  Baldwin,  but  the  name  is  prop- 
erly listed  by  Torrey  and  Gray  as  Baldwinia  uni- 
flora,  though  Lindley 8  gives  Balduina" 

'Gray's  Botany. 
Lindley  (The  Vegetable  Kingdom),  pp.  334-711. 


110     SOME  AMERICAN  MEDICAL  BOTANISTS 

A  letter  received  recently  from  his  grandson, 
Dr.  Edward  Baldwin  Gleason,  is  not  without 
interest: 

"  October  30,  1912. 
"My  dear  Dr.  Kelly: 

"  Your  letter  of  the  24th  relative  to  my  grand- 
father, Dr.  William  Baldwin,  reached  me.  I 
went  with  Dr.  Seneca  Egbert  to  the  Academy  of 
Natural  Sciences  and  was  shown  some  dried 
plants  gathered  by  my  grandfather  in  Georgia 
and  the  Bermudas  about  100  years  ago.  These 
plants,  a  part  of  the  von  Schweinitz  collection, 
were  in  an  elegant  state  of  preservation  and  com- 
pared somewhat  favorably  with  plants  of  the 
same  family  recently  collected  by  a  member  of 
the  Academy. 

"  Nuttall's  name  for  the  plant  he  named  after 
grandfather  was  Baldwinia  uniflora.  The  fol- 
lowing is  from  Genera  of  North  American  Plants 
and  a  catalogue  of  species  to  the  year  l8lj ',  by 
Thomas  Nuttall,  F.  L.  S.,  Philadelphia,  1818,  p. 

175- 

"  (  688.  Baldwinia.  Calex  imbricated,  foli- 
acious  and  squarrose;  rays  rubrifed;  receptacle 
hemispherical,  corneous,  cellular,  seeds  im- 
mersed, pappus  foliacious,  awnless,  erect,  about 
ten-leaved.  Dedicated  as  a  just  tribute  of  respect 
for  the  talents  and  industry  of  William  Baldwin, 
M.  D.,  late  of  Savannah,  Georgia,  a  gentleman 


WILLIAM  BALDWIN  III 

whose  botanical  zeal  and  knowledge  has  rarely 
been  excelled  in  America.' 

"  I  was  greatly  surprised  that  the  two  officers 
of  the  Academy  whom  I  met  seemed  to  know  all 
about  my  grandfather  and  his  work  as  a  botanist. 
One  of  them  asked  me  what  was  the  probable 
date  of  his  visit  to  the  Bermudas,  when  he  had 
been  in  conversation  but  a  few  moments,  and 
without  hesitation  selected  part  of  a  portfolio 
which  contained  plants  collected  by  my  grand- 
father in  that  locality." 

The  next  news  Darlington  had  of  his  friend 
was  an  official  letter  announcing  his  death  on  the 
ist  of  September,  1819,  at  Franklin,  on  the  banks 
of  the  Missouri,  in  the  home  of  his  friend  John 
Lowry. 

Mrs.  Baldwin  was  quite  willing  to  let  Darling- 
ton have  the  Herbarium ;  her  husband  had  writ- 
ten to  her  five  days  before  his  death  reminding 
her  of  his  promise,  but  Darlington's  compassion 
for  the  young  widow  and  four  little  children 
induced  him  to  try  to  sell  it,  its  obvious  value 
prohibiting  his  buying  it  himself  at  the  price  he 
could  afford.  Zachary  Collins,  the  botanist, 
bought  it  and  meant  to  place  it  in  the  Philadel- 
phia Academy  of  Natural  Sciences;  but  his  rep- 
resentatives sold  it  to  the  Rev.  L.  D.  de  Schwein- 
itz,*  who  finally  bequeathed  it  to  the  Philadel- 

3  Lewis  David  von  Schweinitz,  botanist,  1780-1834. 
10 


112      SOME  AMERICAN  MEDICAL  BOTANISTS 

phia  Academy.  In  it  he  found  3,000  species  not 
in  his  own  collection.  Darlington  tried  in  vain 
to  get  a  small  government  pension  for  his  friend's 
widow,  and  doubtless  the  unexpected  refusal 
meant  inroads  into  his  own  scanty  income.  He 
gave  also  most  generously  of  his  leisure  in  sorting 
over  Baldwin's  manuscripts  and  letters  and  has 
transmitted  to  us  the  Reliquiae  Baldwinianae 
( 1 843 ) .  In  this  work  he  gives  no  published  writ- 
ings from  Baldwin,  save  the  two  papers  men- 
tioned; the  other  manuscripts  unpublished  came 
into  Dr.  Torrey's  possession  and,  though  in  a 
fragmentary  state,  were  used  as  contributions  for 
his  monograph  of  the  Gyperaceae,  and  for  Gray's 
monograph  of  Rhynchospora,  in  the  Annals  of 
New  York  Lyceum  of  Natural  History,  vol.  iii. 
At  the  beginning  of  his  biography  of  Baldwin, 
Darlington  has  this  quotation : 

"  Manibus  date  lilia  plenis 
Purpureos  spargam  floras  animamque  nepotis 
His  saltern  accumulem  donis,  et  fungar  inani 
Munere!  "    (Virgil,  Aen.  6,  883-6.) 

("Bring  me  handfuls  of  lilies,  that  I  may  strew  the  grave  with 
their  dazzling  hues,  and  crown,  if  only  with  these  gifts,  my  young 
descendant's  shade  and  perform  the  vain  service  of  sorrow.") 

— Conington. 

Reliquiae  Baldwinianae.    W.  Darlington.    1843. 
Memorials  of  Bartram  and  Marshall.    W.  Darlington.     1849. 
Personal    Communication    from    his    grandson,    Edward    Baldwin 
Gleason. 


WILLIAM   DARLINGTON 
(By   permission   of   Professor    Harshberger) 


WILLIAM   DARLINGTON 

1782-1863 
Darlingtonia  Calif  arnica* — TORREY 

Born  in  Chester  County,  Pennsylvania,  a  doc- 
tor, botanist,  and  author,  Darlington  was  one  of 
a  famous  group  of  scientists  exploring,  writing 
and  keeping  up  a  keen  scientific  correspondence 
with  each  other;  from  Europe  to  America,  from 
America  to  Europe,  news  of  fresh  plants,  packets 
of  seeds,  graceful  congratulations  were  sent,  Lin- 
naeus being  the  brightest  star  and  one  whose 
opinion  was  first  sought. 

The  seeming  hardship  of  having  to  work  on 
a  farm,  the  outdoor  life,  may  have  indirectly 
helped  William  Darlington's  botanical  interests. 
His  great-grandfather,  Abraham  Darlington, 
had  come  over  from  England  to  Pennsylvania 
when  a  young  man,  and  settled  near  Chester. 
William  was  the  eldest  child  of  Edward  and 
Hannah  Townsend  Darlington  and  one  of  five 
sons.  He  had  a  common  school  education,  but, 
hungry  for  more,  persuaded  his  father  to  let  him 

1  The  name  Darlingtonia  had  been  previously  otherwise  used.  This 
plant  will  always  be  popularly  known  as  "  Darlingtonia,"  but  most 
careful  botanists  now  use  the  technical  name  Chrysamphora.  (J.  H. 
Barnhart.) 

"3 


114     SOME  AMERICAN  MEDICAL  BOTANISTS 

study  medicine  with  Dr.  John  Vaughan,  of  Wil- 
mington, Delaware.  He  took  also  private  French 
lessons,  studied  hard  at  Latin,  Spanish  and  Ger- 
man and  received  his  medical  degree  from  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania  in  1804. 

He  had  the  good  fortune  of  being  able  to  attend 
the  botanical  lectures  of  Dr.  Benjamin  S.  Barton, 
and  it  is  easy  to  imagine  the  shoots  of  his  botanic 
ideas  taking  root  in  the  firm  earth  of  accurate 
knowledge. 

A  voyage  to  India  as  ship's  surgeon  gave  him 
leisure  for  study  and  reflection,  but  does  not 
seem  to  have  given  him  "  travel  fever  "  also,  for, 
the  following  year,  he  settled  down  to  practise  in 
West  Chester,  after  marrying  Catherine,  daugh- 
ter of  Gen.  John  Lacey,  of  New  Jersey. 

In  1812  international  science  yielded  to  inter- 
national strife,  and  Darlington  became  major  of 
the  "  American  Grays,"  organized  to  defend 
Philadelphia.  Shortly  after  he  figured  as  a  poli- 
tician advocating  the  restriction  of  slavery.  He 
was  nominated  by  the  secretary  of  war  as  visitor 
to  West  Point.  He  served  on  the  Board  of  Canal 
Commissioners  to  connect  the  Great  Lakes  with 
the  Atlantic,  yet,  in  the  midst  of  much  civic  busi- 
ness, he  found  time  to  botanize  and  found  the 
Chester  County  Cabinet  of  Natural  Science  and 
to  publish,  in  1826,  his  Florula  Gestrica.  Later, 
in  1837,  a  new  edition  appeared  as  Flora  Ces- 


WILLIAM  DARLINGTON  11$ 

trica,  both  being  a  description  of  plants  growing 
in  Chester  County,  Pennsylvania.  With  some 
confreres  he  founded  and  became  president  of 
the  Medical  Society  of  Chester  County,  a  happy 
union  which  drew  together  all  that  was  best  in 
the  local  medical  world. 

One  thing  which  pleased  him  greatly  was  the 
perpetuation  of  his  name  in  a  flower.  Professor 
De  Candolle  of  Geneva  named  a  genus  after  him, 
but  it  was  not  sufficiently  distinct ;  another  friend, 
Professor  Torrey  of  New  York  dedicated  to  him 
a  finer  plant,  of  the  order  Sarraceniaceae,  grow- 
ing in  California. 

Professor  Torrey,  writing  On  the  Darlingtonia 
Californica*  tells  us :  "  This  new  Pitcher  plant 
was  first  detected  by  Mr.  J.  D.  Brackenridge, 
who  found  it  in  a  marsh,  bordering  a  small  tribu- 
tary of  the  Upper  Sacramento,  a  few  miles  south 

of  Shasta  Peak Without  the  flowers  (it 

being  October)  nothing  further  could  be  deter- 
mined respecting  it;  but  from  the  bracteate  scape 
and  deeply  parted  lamina  or  appendage  of  the 
leaves,  it  seemed  more  probable  that  it  was  dis- 
tinct from  Sarracenia."  Dr.  G.  W.  Hulse,  of 
New  Orleans,  found  it  in  the  same  region  many 
years  later,  and  sent  one  in  flower  to  Torrey;  so 
the  latter  goes  on  to  say:  "  The  plant  proves  to 
be  generically  distinct  from  Sarracenia  as  well  as 

2  Smithsonian  Institution  Papers,  April,  1850. 


1 1 6     SOME  AMERICAN  MEDICAL  BOTANISTS 

from  the  genus  Heliamphora  of  Bentham,  and  I 
take  pleasure  in  dedicating  it  to  my  highly  es- 
teemed friend,  Dr.  William  Darlington  .  .  .  .  , 
whose  valuable  botanical  works  have  contributed 
so  largely  to  the  scientific  reputation  of  our  coun- 
try. The  genus  dedicated  to  this  veteran  botanist 
by  De  Candolle  has  been  reduced  to  a  section  of 
Desmanthus  by  Bentham,  and  a  Californian 
plant,  on  imperfect  specimens  of  which  I  have 
recently  indicated  a  genus  under  this  name, 
proves  to  be  only  a  species  of  Sty  rax." 

Darlington  certainly  deserved  the  honor,  for 
a  more  generous  man  never  lived.  This  was 
shown  in  his  gathering  together  all  the  letters  and 
memoranda  of  Dr.  William  Baldwin,  a  zealous 
botanist,  who  died  still  young  while  on  an  expe- 
dition up  the  Missouri.  He  called  the  book 
Reliquiae  Baldwinianae,  1843,  and,  six  years 
later,  made  all  botanists  his  debtors  by  his  loving 
work  shown  in  The  Memorials  of  John  Bartram 
and  Humphry  Marshall,  1849,  the  careful  foot- 
notes alone  constituting  valuable  references  to  the 
botanical  side  of  that  period.  Between  these  two 
volumes  another  was  written,  a  result  of  his  ob- 
servation of  the  unscientific  farming  going  on 
around  him,  a  book  which  was  of  genuine  serv- 
ice; this  was  his  Agricultural  Botany,  1847. 

He  willed  that  his  herbarium  and  all  his  botan- 
ical works  should  go  to  his  own  county,  where 


DARLINGTONIA   CALIFORNICA 

(From  The  Smithsonian  Contributions  to  Knowledge,  1850) 


WILLIAM  DARLINGTON  117 

they  are  still  in  the  museum  of  the  West  Chester 
State  Normal  School,  now,  like  many  another 
valuable  collection,  too  little  known,  but  erst- 
while a  fount  of  continual  joy  to  the  great  col- 
lector, adding  zest  to  his  correspondence  with 
fellow-botanists  on  both  sides  the  Atlantic,  and 
the  more  than  forty  learned  societies  which 
elected  him  to  membership. 

Darlington  had  a  great  sorrow  in  1845,  when 
his  son,  who  had  served  in  the  navy  for  seventeen 
years,  died  of  disease  contracted  on  the  coast  of 
Africa.  Mrs.  Darlington  died  shortly  after,  and 
in  the  spring  of  1862  Darlington  had  a  slight 
attack  of  paralysis,  followed  in  1863  by  another, 
from  which  he  died  on  Thursday,  April  23,  1863, 
nearly  eighty-one  years  old  and  with  mind  still 
unimpaired.  He  was  buried  in  Oaklands  Ceme- 
tery, Philadelphia,  and  on  his  tomb  is  carved: 

Plantae  Cestrienses 

quas 

dilexit  atque  illustravit 

Super  Tumulum  ejus 

Semper  Floreant. 

Tr.  Med.  Soc.  Perm.,  Phila.,  1863. 

Memorial  of  William  Darlington,  by  W.  T.  James.    West  Chester, 
1863. 


JAMES  MACBRIDE 

1784-1817 
Macbridea  pulchra 1 — ELLIOTT 

Although  Macbride's  name  figures  in  the  indi- 
ces of  several  volumes,  yet,  taking  all  the  refer- 
ences together,  very  scanty  information  can  be 
had  concerning  him.  The  fact  that  Dr.  Stephen 
Elliott  dedicated  to  him  the  second  volume  of  his 
Sketch  of  the  Botany  of  South  Carolina  and 
Georgia  (1824),  and  named  the  Macbridea  pul- 

1 "  This  plant,  nearly  allied  to  Melittis,  appears  to  differ  in  its  calyx, 
corolla,  anthers  and  perhaps  by  its  glands.  I  have  therefore  inserted 
a  minute  description,  that  it  may  be  compared  with  that  genus.  Its 
habit  is  peculiar.  Each  whorl,  when  in  flower,  appears  to  be  on  the 
summit  of  the  stem.  Two  flowers  generally  shoot  up  at  a  time.  These 
are  large  for  this  order,  rather  exceeding  an  inch  in  length,  and  are 
fancifully  said  to  resemble  two  ears.  Sometimes,  though  very  rarely, 
all  the  flowers  of  the  whorl  expand  at  the  same  time.  While  the  first 
whorl  is  flowering,  the  stem  insensibly  extends;  and,  when  the  first 
flowers  have  decayed,  a  second  whorl  appears  on  the  summit  of  the 
stem,  ready  to  expand  its  two  most  forward  buds.  There  are  rarely 
more  than  three  or  four  whorls  on  each  stem.  I  have  named  this 
genus  in  commemoration  of  the  late  Dr.  James  Macbride,  whose  un- 
timely death,  Medicine  and  Natural  History,  and  an  admiring  country 
equally  deplore. 

"  It  grows  in  the  narrow  swamps  through  the  pine  barrens  in  the 
middle  districts  of  Carolina,  and  is  very  abundant  between  Saltcatcher 
bridge  and  Murphy's  bridge  on  the  Edisto  river;  it  flowers  from 
August  to  September."  (Elliott's  Botany  of  S.  Carolina  and  Georgia, 
vol.  ii,  1824.) 

Ill 


JAMES  MACBRIDE  119 

chra  for  him,  indicates  that  the  writer  presumed 
James  Macbride  to  be  well  known. 

Born  in  1784,  he  graduated  from  Yale  in  1805 
and  afterwards  studied  medicine.  He  then  set- 
tled to  practise  for  a  while  in  Pineville,  South 
Carolina,  but  later  removed  to  Charleston,  where 
he  died  of  yellow  fever  in  1817,  only  thirty- three 
years  old,  yet  with  renown  as  a  doctor  and  a 
scientist. 

Botany  was  clearly  his  favorite  study  and  his 
chief  writings  on  this  subject  are  in  the  Transac- 
tions of  the  Linnaean  Society. 

Memorials  of  Bartram  and  Marshall.    W.  Darlington. 
Sketch  of  the  Botany  of  South  Carolina  and  Georgia.     Stephen 
Elliott. 


JACOB  BIGELOW 

1787-1879 
Eigelowia  Menziesii 1 — DE  CANDOLLE 

It  must  ever  prove  a  source  of  gratification  to 
lovers  of  natural  science  that  the  boys  in  the  past, 
studiously  inclined,  were  often  tolerantly  or 
resignedly  allowed  to  "  waste  their  time  "  in  field 
and  wood,  making  boyish  "  collections  "  and  har- 
vesting observations.  Jacob  Bigelow  says  he 
spent  his  long  leisure,  until  he  was  thirteen,  "  rov- 
ing about  the  woods,  puzzling  myself  with  specu- 
lations on  natural  objects  and  taking  intense  de- 
light in  the  construction  of  miniature  saw  mills, 
machinery  for  entrapping  rats  and  squirrels,  and 
rude  attempts  at  drawing  and  carving." 

He  speaks  laughingly  of  his  first  lesson  in  bot- 
any ;  it  was  given  when,  as  a  little  boy,  he  asked 
a  learned  gentleman  the  name  of  the  plant  "  Star 
of  Bethlehem":  "That?  Why,  that's  grass, 
you  little  fool  " ! 

Massachusetts  gave  us  this  great  educational 
reformer,  who  was  one  of  America's  most  learned 
botanists  and  was  closely  associated  with  the  lead- 

1But  neither  this  nor  any  of  the  four  earlier  Bigelovias  or  Bige- 
loivias,  are  now  tenable. 

120 


JACOB   BIGELOW 
(Frontispiece,  A  Memoir  of  Jacob  Bigelotv,  G.  E.  Ellis) 


JACOB  BIGELOW  121 

ing  scientists  of  the  world.  He  was  of  New 
England  ancestry,  his  people  coming  over  about 
1640  and  settling  in  Watertown,  Massachusetts. 
Jacob  Bigelow,  father,  was  a  Congregational 
minister,  who  married  a  daughter  of  Gershom 
Flagg. 

The  son  was  born  February  27, 1787,  his  child- 
hood being  passed  in  the  country  at  farm  work, 
with  scanty  schooling.  Painfully  his  father  man- 
aged to  send  him  to  Harvard,  where  he  graduated 
in  1806,  and  in  1808  attended  the  medical  lectures 
there  as  a  pupil  under  Dr.  John  Gorham  and 
taught  in  the  Boston  Latin  School.  Then  he  went 
to  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  to  attend  the 
lectures  of  Rush,  Wistar,  Barton  and  Coxe  and 
to  receive  the  doctor's  degree  ( 1810) . 

He  was  a  private  pupil  under  Benjamin  Smith 
Barton,  and  so  had  his  botanical  knowledge  con- 
siderably augmented.  Some  years  previously, 
Ward  Nicholas  Boylston  had  instituted  a  prize 
for  the  best  dissertation  on  a  medical  subject,  and 
student  Jacob  says: 

"  So  great  was  my  diffidence  at  the  thought  of 
presuming  at  a  mark  far  beyond  my  reach,  that 
I  concealed  my  purpose  from  every  one  and 
wrote  a  long  essay  on  Cyanche  Maligna,  in  win- 
ter time,  in  a  cold  chamber,  being  obliged  to  wear 
a  glove  on  my  right  hand  to  preserve  the  flexi- 
bility of  my  fingers."  At  last,  when  it  was  fin- 


122     SOME  AMERICAN  MEDICAL  BOTANISTS 

ished,  he  went  out  one  dark  evening  and  left  it 
at  the  Committee's  rooms ;  but  it  was  returned 
as  too  late  for  examination,  and  he  tried  again 
next  year  with  Phthisis  Pulmonalis,  sending  in 
the  first  paper  also.  Both  received  prizes,  and 
the  award  was  his  once  more  the  next  year  for 
his  Treatment  of  Injuries  occasioned  by  Fire  and 
Heated  Substances. 

So  promising  were  his  abilities  at  this  time 
(1811)  that  Dr.  James  Jackson  invited  him  to 
become  his  partner  and  "  be  at  hand  at  all  needed 
times."  Bigelow  easily  succeeded  in  that  part 
of  the  practice  which  Jackson  declined,  and  was 
also  his  successor  as  president  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts Medical  Society  and  of  the  American 
Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences. 

"  Finding  that  a  considerable  taste  had  sprung 
up  among  my  pupils  for  the  study  of  plants,  I 
began  to  collect  materials  for  a  description  of  the 
native  plants  of  Boston  and  its  vicinity,  which  I 
published  in  1814  under  the  name  of  Florida 
Bostoniensis.  This  limited  volume  passed 
through  three  editions  with  enlargements,  and 
was  for  several  years  the  principal  book  used  by 
herborizers  in  New  England 

"  The  Abbe  Correa  da  Serra,  when  he  visited 
Boston,  perused  my  herbarium  and  afterwards 
gave  me  letters  to  eminent  botanists  of  Europe, 
so  that  I  was  able  to  open  a  correspondence  and 


JACOB  BIGELOW  123 

exchange  specimens Genera  of  plants 

were  named  for  me  by  Sir  J.  E.  Smith  in  the  sup- 
plement of  Rees'  Cyclopaedia,  by  Schrader  in 
Germany,  and  by  De  Candolle  in  Paris.  Of 
these  the  last  only  stands,  the  two  others  having 
been  previously  appropriated  to  other  botanists." 

Gray  says,  in  his  tribute  to  Bigelow  in  the 
American  Journal  of  Science  and  Arts  (1879  ?) 
that  more  than  thirty  species  of  Bigelovia,  besides 
one  from  Mexico  and  two  from  the  Andes  of 
South  America,  now  commemorate  him.  Most 
of  them  were  described  by  Gray  himself. 

Bigelow  was  awakening  an  interest  in  a  science 
for  which  the  literature  was  scanty;  some  old 
works  were  in  the  libraries,  but,  with  their  Latin 
and  unnecessarily  complicated  nomenclature, 
they  were  not  adapted  to  students. 

In  1817,  Bigelow,  with  two  others,  sat  very 
seriously  as  a  committee  to  receive  the  depositions 
of  eight  persons  who  had  seen  a  sea-serpent  off 
the  coast.  A  time-stained  pamphlet  of  fifty-two 
pages,  with  engravings,  contains  the  Report  of 
a  Committee  of  the  Linnaean  Society  of  New 
England,  relative  to  a  large  Marine  Animal, 
Supposed  to  be  a  Serpent,  seen  near  Cape  Ann, 
Massachusetts,  in  August,  1817,  and  a  copy  was 
sent  to  Sir  Joseph  Banks  in  London,  who  ven- 
tures, though  courteously,  to  express  a  little  incre- 
dulity "  which  future  observation  will  no  doubt 
clear  up." 


124     SOME  AMERICAN  MEDICAL  BOTANISTS 

Another  event  in  1817  occupied  the  professor's 
serious  attention  quite  as  much  as  the  sea-serpent: 
this  was  the  finding  of  a  wife — Mary,  daughter 
of  Col.  William  Scollay,  who  bore  him  five  chil- 
dren, one  of  them  Henry  Jacob  Bigelow,  and 
gave  him  "  more  than  fifty  years  of  uninterrupted 
happiness."  There  is  no  record  that  he  consulted 
Sir  Joseph  Banks  this  time  concerning  the  cor- 
rectness of  his  discovery. 

At  thirty,  then,  this  young  professor  is  found 
with  ability  and  courage  equal  to  all  the  many 
duties  which  crowded  his  day;  moreover,  he 
had  been  made  Rumford  Professor  of  the  Appli- 
cation of  Science  to  the  Useful  Arts,  which  was 
worth  $1,000  annually.  Most  of  the  lectures 
were  embodied  in  his  Elements  of  Technology 
(Boston,  1829). 

"In  1818,  I  began,"  he  says,  "to  publish  a 
work  on  American  Medical  Botany,  to  consist  of 

six  half-volumes I  involved  myself  in 

the  difficult  responsibility  of  investigating  the 
whole  subject  and  of  furnishing  sixty  plates  and 
sixty  thousand  colored  engravings,  which  were 
to  be  engraved  in  outline  and  the  impressions 
separately  colored  by  hand.  I  soon  found  that  I 
had  greatly  over-rated  the  ability  of  my  artists 
and  under-rated  the  time  and  labor  necessary  to 
oversee  the  proceedings  of  the  work.  I  came  to  the 
conclusion  that  the  only  way  of  extricating  myself 


JACOB  BIGELOW  125 

from  the  difficulty  was  to  invent  some  new  mode 
of  printing  the  impressions  at  once  in  colors  from 
the  copperplates.  After  many  trials  and  experi- 
ments a  tolerably  successful  mode  was  discov- 
ered, which  consisted  in  engraving  the  plates  in 
aqua  tinta,  thus  producing  a  continuous  surface, 
to  the  parts  of  which  separate  colors  could  be 
applied,  and  the  surface  wiped  off  in  different 
directions  so  as  not  to  interfere  with  each  other." 

The  title  of  the  book  is  American  Medical  Bot- 
any, being  a  collection  of  the  Native  Medicinal 
Plants  of  the  United  States,  etc.  The  third  vol- 
ume came  out  in  1820;  the  finish  both  of  the  pic- 
tures and  of  the  text  is  such  that  it  would  be 
creditable  even  to-day.  It  is  a  prize  eagerly  cov- 
eted by  collectors,  but  diligent  search  has  as  yet 
given  me  only  two  parts  of  the  three  volumes. 

When  the  great  cholera  epidemic  of  1832  in 
New  York  carried  off  some  3,000  victims,  Bos- 
ton's death-roll  numbered  only  one  hundred, 
owing  to  the  authorities  being  wise  enough  to 
adopt  the  stringent  sanitary  precautions  urged  by 
Bigelow,  who,  with  Ware  and  Flint,  offered  his 
services  as  investigator  of  the  conditions  in  New 
York. 

Those  who  used  the  new  Pharmacopoeia  of  the 
United  States  in  1820  must  have  been  grateful  to 
Bigelow  for  his  wisdom  in  dealing  with  his 
assignment — the  list  and  nomenclature  of  the 


126     SOME  AMERICAN  MEDICAL  BOTANISTS 

materia  medica.  Spaulding,  of  New  York; 
Hewson,  of  Philadelphia;  Ives,  of  New  Haven; 
and  De  Butts,  of  Baltimore,  were  his  co-workers. 
Bigelow,  disregarding  the  double  or  triple  names 
in  the  English  pharmacopoeias,  let  Gentiana 
appear  without  the  "  lutea  "  or  "  radix  "  and 
treated  all  names  in  the  same  way.  "  This  simple 
nomenclature  continues  to  be  used  in  this  country 
and  seems  likely  to  supersede  all  others,  at  least 
so  long  as  medicine  continues  to  be  made  a  mys- 
tery, and  pharmacy  a  trade,  and  therapeutics 
almost  a  pseudo-science." 

Bigelow  at  middle  age  was  visiting  physician 
to  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital,  was  Pro- 
fessor of  Materia  Medica  at  Harvard,  had  an 
enormous  consulting  practice,  wrote  frequently 
for  the  press,  and  keenly  worked  for  reform  in 
the  practice  of  medicine.  He  had  clear  vision, 
and  for  many  years,  in  season  and  out  of  season, 
insisted  particularly  upon  the  self-limited  char- 
acter of  disease.  In  1835,  when  he  read  an 
address  with  this  title  before  the  Massachusetts 
Medical  Society,  the  effect  was  instantaneous  and 
immense.  O.  W.  Holmes  says,  "  This  remark- 
able essay  has  more  influence  on  medical  prac- 
tice than  any  other  similar  brief  treatise."  The 
paper  is  bound  up  in  a  little  volume  entitled 
Nature  in  Disease  and  Other  Writings,  1854. 


TRAVELLING    IN    EUROPE,    1830,    AT    "THE    HIGH    SPEED    OF    30    MILES    AN    HOUR 


JACOB  BIGELOW  127 

His  lectures  on  the  reform  of  medical  educa- 
tion, at  a  time  when  doctors  easily  obtained  de- 
grees or  practised  without  them,  provoked  much 
discussion  both  here  and  in  Europe.  Lecky  wrote 
a  strong  letter  of  dissent  on  receipt  of  Bigelow's 
Modern  Inquiries,  but  Lyell,  Huxley  and  Spen- 
cer "  heartily  thanked  "  the  writer. 

After  1835,  ne  began  to  get  a  little  holidaying 
into  his  life  and  made  excursions  over  the  coun- 
try, also  a  second  journey  to  Europe  in  1848. 
1870  saw  him,  an  old  man,  with  film  impairing 
his  vision,  crossing  the  continent  to  San  Fran- 
cisco. "  He  takes  note  of  the  Echo  Canyon,  the 
Desert  and  Alkali  Pines,  the  oak  groves  and 
the  wild  flowers  ....  he  goes  to  the  valley  in 
which  the  gigantic  Sequoias  stand  in  their  mar- 
vellous grandeur.  He  had  still  a  degree  of  bodily 
vigor  on  his  return  sufficient  for  active  exercise 
for  three  more  years." 

"  A  gathering  of  cataracts  upon  his  eyes  was 
his  first  disablement;  then  a  partial  dullness  of 
hearing;  then  a  gentle  but  sensible  dealing  from 
paralysis."  For  the  last  five  years  of  his  life  he 
was  sightless  and  generally  in  bed.  He  reminded 
a  friend  who  pitied  his  blindness  that  we  usu- 
ally close  our  eyes  before  sleeping  and  he  was 
only  doing  it  a  little  earlier.  News  of  the  out- 
side world,  in  talk  and  book,  still  interested  him 
greatly,  while  the  droll  side  of  happenings  met, 

XI 


128      SOME  AMERICAN  MEDICAL  BOTANISTS 

as  ever,  a  quick  responsiveness.  Now,  as  always, 
his  home  was  the  best  place  he  knew.  When  act- 
ive, he  used  to  rush  upstairs  to  the  children,  for 
whom  he  made  toys  and  planned  tearless  paths 
in  learning's  stony  ways.  Music,  modelling,  bot- 
any were  his  refreshment.  His  religion,  not  for 
speech,  discussion  or  profession,  was  that  of  a 
serious  man  living  very  near  the  realities  of  life! 
Unforgotten  to  the  end,  though  long  inactive,  he 
died  in  January,  1897,  and  was  buried  in  the 
beautiful  Mount  Auburn  Cemetery,  which  he 
himself  had  originated. 

Abridged  from  Surgical  Memoirs  and  Other  Essays.  Dr.  J.  G. 
Mumford,  New  York,  1908. 

Memoir  of  Jacob  Bigelow.    G.  E.  Ellis.    Cambridge,  1880. 

Boston  M.  and  S.  Jour.,  1879,  3.  s.,  xvii.  Am.  J.  Sci.  and  Arts, 
1879.  New  Haven,  3.  s.,  xvii. 


CHARLES  WILKINS  SHORT 

1794-1863 
Shortia  galacifolia — GRAY 

Among  the  pupils  who  loved  Wistar,  and  one 
ever  a  welcome  guest  at  his  home,  was  Charles 
Wilkins  Short,  a  Kentucky  lad  born  in  1794,  the 
son  of  Mary  Symmes  and  Peyton  Short,  who 
owned  a  farm  of  several  thousand  acres.  Gross 
says  that  Short,  as  a  boy,  was  "  noted  for  his 
exemplary  conduct  and  love  of  nature  " ;  also  that 
he  was  "  of  medium  height,  with  blue  eyes  and 
an  ample  forehead,  and  a  smile  radiant  with 
goodness  and  beneficence." 

Dr.  Frederick  Ridgeley,  of  Kentucky,  gave 
him  his  first  medical  training;  then  followed 
two  years  with  Dr.  Wistar  in  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania.  A  thesis  on  The  Medical  Virtues 
of  Juniperus  Sabina  marked  his  graduation 
there  in  1815,  and  Wistar,  who  had  become 
warmly  attached  to  his  pupil,  gave  him  a  cher- 
ished case  of  eye  instruments  when  he  left  for 
home.  That  same  year  he  devoted  some  of  his 
time  to  wooing  and  wedding  Mary,  only  child 
of  Armistead  and  Jane  Churchill.  The  young 
couple  travelled  home  to  Kentucky  in  a  spring- 

129 


130     SOME  AMERICAN  MEDICAL  BOTANISTS 

cart,  Short  botanizing  on  the  way;  and  the  jour- 
ney, whether  owing  to  Mary  or  to  the  speci- 
mens, is  described  as  "  replete  with  interest."  So 
also  was  the  scene  of  his  first  settled  practice, 
Hopkinsville,  then  a  wild,  romantic  district, 
where  he  gathered  patients  and  plants. 

The  botanical  journeyings  must  have  been 
very  interesting.  Picture  Short,  his  brother,  and 
three  other  botanists  setting  out  "  in  a  light  cov- 
ered wagon  to  study  the  autumnal  flora  of  the 
prairies,  travelling  over  400  miles  in  Illinois." 
What  careful  pressing  and  storing  in  the  evening, 
with  thoughts  flying  ahead  across  the  Atlantic  to 
botanical  comrades  destined  eventually  to  receive 
some  of  the  spoils  of  the  dayl 

Short's  botanical  colleagues  always  regretted 
that  he  could  not  or  would  not  write  a  book  con- 
cerning his  researches ;  but  he  never  took  to  the 
idea,  and  his  chief  writings  are  Notices  of  West- 
ern Botany  and  Conchology,  a  paper  published 
jointly  by  himself  and  Mr.  H.  Halbert  Eaton 
(1830)  ;  Instructions  for  the  Gathering  and  Pres- 
ervation of  Plants  in  Herbaria;  a  Catalogue  of 
the  Plants  of  Kentucky,  which  had  two  supple- 
ments; The  Bibliographia  Botanica  (1836); 
Sketch  of  the  Progress  of  Botany  in  Illinois 
( 1845)  ;  and,  with  his  colleague,  Dr.  John  Easton 
Cook,  he  founded  The  Transylvania  Journal  of 
Medicine,  in  1828. 


CHARLES   WILKINS    SHORT 
(Frontispiece,  A  Sketch  of  C.  W.  Short,  S.  D.  Gross) 


CHARLES  WILKINS  SHORT  131 

Short's  chief  usefulness  in  the  botanical  field 
was  mainly  owing  to  the  great  extent  and  the 
particular  excellence  of  his  personal  collections; 
also  to  the  generous  profusion  with  which  he  dis- 
tributed them,  far  and  wide,  among  his  fellow- 
laborers  in  this  and  other  lands.  He  and  Mr. 
Oakes — the  one  in  the  West  and  the  other  in  the 
East,  but  independently — were  the  first  in  this 
country  to  prepare,  on  an  ample  scale,  dried 
specimens  of  uniform  and  superlative  excel- 
lence, and  in  lavish  abundance,  for  the  purpose 
of  supplying  all  who  needed  them. 

He  soon  got  into  touch  with  scientific  men 
everywhere  by  exchanging  specimens.  This  gave 
him  reputation,  and  led  eventually  to  an  invita- 
tion, which  he  accepted,  to  become  professor  of 
natural  medicine  and  medical  botany  in  Transyl- 
vania University,  where  Benjamin  W.  Dudley 
and  Daniel  Drake  were  his  colleagues.  Short's 
heart  was  thoroughly  in  his  work,  and  he  stayed 
there  until  internal  dissensions  in  1837  made 
him  and  Drake  accept  the  same  professorships 
in  the  University  of  Louisville. 

Twelve  years  there  as  teacher  made  Short 
crave  more  time  for  private  work;  so,  in  1849, 
"  he  retired  to  Hayfield,"  five  miles  out  of  Louis- 
ville, and  "  enjoyed  an  elegant  leisure  "  in  his 
herbarium,  helped  by  his  daughters;  but  he 
planned  and  financially  helped  several  distant 


132     SOME  AMERICAN  MEDICAL  BOTANISTS 

and  difficult  botanical  expeditions,  and  bought 
the  rich  herbarium  of  Berlandier,  the  fruit  of 
research  in  Texas  and  Mexico.  He  gathered 
books  also — some  3,000  of  them — one-fourth  of 
them  rare  botanical  works.  His  vast  collection 
of  dried  specimens  passed  into  the  hands  of  the 
Academy  of  Natural  Sciences,  Philadelphia. 
This  was  originally  meant  for  the  Smithsonian 
Institution,  but  they  had  no  room  for  it. 

One  grieves  a  little  to  learn  that  a  curious 
debility  and  ennui  came  over  him  when  he  was 
sixty-seven.  The  old  interests  failed  to  attract; 
and  two  years  later,  pneumonia,  following  on 
typhoid,  ended  his  life  on  March  7,  1863. 

Gray,  writing  to  Sir  William  Hooker  concern- 
ing him,  says :  "  He  was  one  of  our  oldest  bot- 
anists, the  best  of  men  and  kindest  of  friends.  I 
feel  the  loss  very  much.  Although  we  never  met, 
he  was  one  of  my  most  valued  friends." 

His  name  is  commemorated  by  a  number  of 
plants:  "  Genus  Shortia,  galacifolia,  founded 
by  Prof.  Asa  Gray,  on  a  plant  of  the  Pyrola 
family,  discovered  by  Michaux  on  the  mountains 
of  North  Carolina ;  a  cruciferous  plant,  Vesicaria 
Shortii,  described  by  Torrey  and  discovered  by 
Short  on  the  banks  of  Elkhorn  Creek,  Lexington, 
Kentucky;  a  leguminous  plant,  Phaca  Shortiana, 


J 


SHORTIA  GALACIFOLIA 
(From   Southern    Wild   Flowers   and   Trees,    Lounsberry) 


CHARLES  WILKINS  SHORT  133 

of  Nuttall,  found  in  Missouri;  Aster  Shortii,  so 
named  by  Boott,  growing  in  Ohio,  Wisconsin 
and  other  regions;  Solidago  Shortii,  of  Torrey 
and  Gray,  a  goldenrod  discovered  at  the  Falls  of 
the  Ohio ;  Car  ex  Shortiana,  of  Dewey,  extending 
from  southern  Pennsylvania  beyond  Illinois/' 

The  story  of  Shortia,  which  was  lost  for  nearly 
fifty  years,  is  full  of  interest 

"When  Dr.  Gray  was  in  Paris,  in  1839,  he 
observed  in  the  herbarium  of  the  elder  Michaux 
an  unnamed  specimen  of  a  plant.  It  consisted 
merely  of  the  leaves  and  single  fruit,  and  its  label 
stated  that  it  had  been  collected  in  les  hautes  mon- 
tagnes  de  Caroline.  On  his  return  to  America, 
Dr.  Gray  hunted  assiduously  for  the  plant  in  the 
mountains  of  North  Carolina,  but  wholly  with- 
out success.  Two  years  later,  however,  Dr.  Gray 
ventured  to  describe  the  plant,  which  had,  he 
said,  the  habit  of  pyrola  and  the  foliage  of  galax, 
and  dedicated  it  to  Dr.  C.  W.  Short,  the  eminent 
botanist  of  Kentucky.  Henceforth  no  botanist 
ever  visited  the  region  in  North  Carolina  with- 
out searching  for  Shortia  as  if  for  the  philoso- 
pher's stone.  In  the  meantime,  Dr.  Gray  found 
among  a  collection  of  Japanese  plants  a  specimen 
almost  identical  with  that  of  Michaux,  a  coinci- 
dence which  strengthened  his  faith  in  the  exist- 
ence of  the  American  species.  It  was  not  until 

Biographical  Sketch.     S.  D.  Gross,     1865. 


134     SOME  AMERICAN  MEDICAL  BOTANISTS 

1877,  however,  that  it  was  found,  and  then  quite 
accidentally,  by  G.  M.  Hymans,  a  boy  who  knew 
nothing  of  the  good  luck  that  had  befallen  him. 
He  had  picked  it  up  on  the  banks  of  the  Catawba 
River  near  the  town  of  Marion,  in  McDowell 
County,  North  Carolina.  Fortunately  his  father 
was  a  professed  herbalist,  and,  through  a  cor- 
respondent, finally  learned  the  true  nature  of  the 
plant.  It  had  been  collected  when  in  flower,  and 
thus  Dr.  Gray  was  able  to  substantiate  his  orig- 
inal ideas  of  the  genus  and  perfect  its  description. 
He  still  clung  to  the  idea  that  its  natural  habitat 
must  be,  as  Michaux  said,  in  les  hautes  montagnes 
de  Caroline,  arguing  that  the  point  on  the 
Catawba  where  it  had  been  found  was  an  outly- 
ing haven  to  which  it  might  have  been  washed. 
So  with  renewed  energy  it  was  searched  for 
through  the  mountains,  but  always  without  suc- 
cess. 

"In  the  autumn  of  1886,  Professor  Sargent 
visited  the  mountainous  region  of  North  Caro- 
lina about  the  head  waters  of  the  Keowee  River, 
with  the  object  of  rediscovering  Magnolia  cor- 
data.  At  Hog  Back,  now  called  Sapphire,  he 
was  met  by  Mr.  Frank  Boynton,  to  whom  he 
showed  a  leaf  that  he  had  gathered,  and  asked 
what  it  was.  Mr.  Boynton  at  first  thought  it  was 
galax,  but  on  looking  at  the  leaf  more  closely 
said  that  he  didn't  know.  The  same  evening  a 
letter  came  from  Dr.  Gray  in  which  he  urged 


CHARLES  WILKINS  SHORT  135 

them  to  discover  the  original  habitat  of  Shortia. 
Mr.  Stiles,  the  editor  of  Garden  and  Forest,  who 
was  also  present  on  this  eventful  evening,  said 
in  a  joking  way:  '  That  is  Shortia  you  have  in 
your  hand.7  This  proved  to  be  true.  The  leaf 
was  Shortia.  Professor  Sargent  had  found  it, 
just  ninety-eight  years  after  Michaux's  discov- 
ery, probably  near  the  same  spot. 

"  About  two  weeks  later,  Professor  Sargent, 
Mr.  Boynton  and  his  brother  went  to  find  the 
exact  place  of  the  plant's  growth.  They  found 
it  near  Bear  Camp  Creek  in  a  rather  limited 
quantity,  but  still  enough  for  them  to  carry  away 
a  box  full  of  specimens  for  distribution.  The 
following  spring,  Mr.  Harbison  started  out  in 
quest  of  it.  He  went  beyond  Bear  Creek  to  the 
forks  of  the  rivers  and  there  saw  it  growing  in 
great  masses — acres,  in  fact,  covered  as  thickly 
as  clover  fields.  Wagon-loads  were  eventually 
taken  away,  and  still  there  appeared  to  be  no 
diminution  in  abundance.  So  the  search  for  Shor- 
tia ended.  Through  the  further  efforts  of  Mr. 
Harbison,  the  plant  is  now  well-known  and  a 
common  one  in  the  nursery  catalogues,  though  in 
its  wild  state  it  grows  at  its  finest  and  best  under 
the  shade  of  kalmias  and  rhododendrons." 

Trans.  Araer.  Philosoph.  Soc.    Philadelphia,  1865. 
Biog.  Sketch  of  Charles  Wilkins  Short.    S.  D.  Gross.    Philadelphia. 
1865. 

2  Southern  Wild  Flowers  and  Trees.     Alice  Lounsberry. 


JOHN  TORREY 

1796-1873 
Torreya  taxi  folia — ARNOTT 

The  names  of  John  Torrey  and  Asa  Gray  seem 
almost  inseparable.  In  1830,  Gray,  a  lad  of 
twenty,  came  into  New  York  bringing  a  packet 
of  undetermined  plants  for  Torrey  to  label,  and 
from  the  dead  plants  sprang  a  vital  lifelong 
friendship. 

Torrey  was  born  in  New  York  on  August  15, 
1796,  the  son  of  a  Revolutionary  soldier,  William 
Torrey,  and  Margaret  Nichols.  He  had  the  or- 
dinary public  school  education,  and  when  he 
was  fifteen  two  events  occurred:  his  father  was 
appointed  Fiscal  Agent  of  the  State  Prison  at 
Greenwich,  New  York,  and  the  family  moved 
there;  and  John  met  Amos  Eaton,1  a  pioneer  of 
instruction  in  natural  science  in  America.  Eaton 
taught  the  lad  the  structure  of  plants  and  encour- 
aged him  in  his  taste  for  mineralogy  and  chemis- 
try, no  mean  preparation  for  the  study  of  medi- 
cine in  1815  under  Wright  Post,*  and  in  the  Col- 
lege of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  under  Samuel 

1  Amos  Eaton,  botanist,  1776-1842. 

2  Wright  Post,  surgeon,  1766-1828. 

136 


JOHN  TORREY  137 

Mitchell  *  and  David  Hosack.*  Being  endowed 
with  unusual  natural  gifts,  he  quickly  forged 
ahead.  He  took  his  medical  degree  in  1818  with 
a  thesis  on  Dysentery,  and  by  1817  had  already 
presented  to  the  Lyceum  of  Natural  History — 
of  which  he  was  one  of  the  founders — his  Cata- 
logue of  Plants  growing  within  thirty  miles  of 
New  York  (1819),  and  enjoyed  as  correspond- 
ents such  men  as  Sir  James  Edward  Smith,6  Nut- 
tall,0  and  von  Schweinitz.1 

About  the  time  Elliott's  Sketch  of  the  Botany 
of  South  Carolina  and  Georgia  was  being  pub- 
lished, Torrey  conceived  a  similar  systematic 
work  on  The  Flora  of  the  North  and  Middle 
Sections  of  the  United  States,  and  got  out  Volume 
I  by  the  summer  of  1824.  It  showed  the  rare 
power  of  setting  forth  details  in  delicate  sepa- 
rateness,  yet  as  a  comprehensive  entirety. 

In  1824  he  was  settled  at  the  Military  Acad- 
emy at  West  Point  with  a  bride,  Elizabeth  Rob- 
inson Shaw,  and  as  Professor  of  Chemistry,  Min- 
eralogy and  Geology.  The  Flora  did  not  extend 
to  a  second  volume,  but  ended  in  a  pocket "  Com- 
pendium "  in  1826,  for  Torrey  rightly  foresaw 
that "  the  natural  system  was  not  longer  to  remain 

3  Samuel  Latham  Mitchell,  surgeon,  1764-1831. 

4  David  Hosack,  surgeon,  1769-1835. 

5  James  Edward  Smith,  botanist,  London,  1759-1828. 

6  Thomas  Nuttall,  botanist-explorer,  1784-1859. 

1  Lewis  David  von  Schweinitz,  D.  D.,  1780-1834. 


138      SOME  AMERICAN  MEDICAL  BOTANISTS 

an  esoteric  doctrine,  but  was  destined  to  come 
into  general  use  and  change  the  character  of 
botanical  instruction."  He  himself  was  the  first 
to  apply  it  in  any  big  work,  and  found  his  oppor- 
tunity, when,  in  1826,  he  wrote,  in  their  natural 
orders,  of  the  plants  collected  by  Dr.  Edwin 
James,  botanist,  in  1820,  to  Major  Long's  Expe- 
dition to  the  Rocky  Mountains.  This  was  the 
earliest  treatise  of  the  kind  written  in  America; 
and  his  energy  in  this  direction  being  aglow,  he 
set  to  work  in  1831  on  an  American  edition  of 
Lindley's  "  Introduction  to  the  Natural  System  of 
Botany  and  added  a  catalogue  of  the  North 
American  genera  on  the  same  plan. 

Not  only  Dr.  Edwin  James,  but  other  botanical 
friends,  were  fond  of  entrusting  their  specimens, 
ideas  or  manuscript  to  his  categorical  and  edi- 
torial care.  Lewis  von  Schweinitz,  when  he  went 
over  to  Europe,  left  his  Monograph  of  the  North 
American  Species  of  the  Genus  Carex  (1825) 
with  Torrey  to  edit,  but  the  "  editing,"  from  Tor- 
rey's  idea  of  that  office,  meant  practically  rewrit- 
ing and  extension,  a  duty  so  faithfully  done  that 
von  Schweinitz  wanted  it  published  under  a  joint 
authorship.  Ten  or  twelve  years  later,  Torrey's 
own  elaborate  Monograph  of  the  other  North 
American  Cyperaceae  appeared,  with  an  ap- 
pended revision  of  the  Carices. 

8  John  Lindley,  botanist,  1799-1865. 


JOHN  TORREY  139 

One  is,  perforce,  at  this  time  a  little  sorry  for 
our  botanist.  He  wanted  so  much  to  embark  on 
a  grand  undertaking — a  general  Flora  of  the 
United  States;  but  leisure  was  scanty.  He  had 
taken  a  professorship  of  natural  science  at 
Princeton;  and  an  appointment  came  just  then 
as  State  Botanist  to  a  geological  survey  of  New 
York,  which  could  hardly  be  refused.  It  meant 
much  hard  labor  but  in  1843,  after  a  great  deal 
of  discouragement,  the  result  was  his  largest 
work :  A  Flora  of  the  State  of  New  York,  in  two 
large  quarto  volumes,  with  161  plates. 

But  the  other  book  was  not  forgotten.  He 
asked  his  old  pupil,  Asa  Gray,  to  become  his  asso- 
ciate. So  the  pupil  stepped  up  nearer  the  mas- 
ter and  put  all  his  heart  into  the  work,  the  two 
together  making  marvellous  advances;  and  in 
July-October,  1838,  half  the  first  volume  was 
ready.  The  next  year  Gray  went  to  Europe  to 
study  the  sources  and  originals  of  earlier  estab- 
lished species,  and  the  latter  half  of  the  volume 
was  out  by  June,  1840.  The  second  volume  was 
completed  in  1843. 

If  we  add  to  all  this  the  Botanical  Reports  of 
the  various  land-exploring  expeditions  written 
from  1822  to  1858,  the  amount  of  work  done  is 
seen  to  be  astonishing,  all  being  accomplished  in 
the  intervals  of  an  overcrowded  professional  life. 
When  in  1857,  he  "  exchanged  a  portion,  and,  a 


140     SOME  AMERICAN  MEDICAL  BOTANISTS 

few  years  later,  the  whole,  of  his  usual  work  to 
become  United  States  Assayer,"  his  time  for  writ- 
ing became  still  more  scanty,  as  the  head  of  the 
treasury  frequently  asked  his  help  in  questions 
of  counterfeit  and  other  monetary  problems. 

Still,  there  were  compensations,  notably  when, 
in  1865,  that  same  head  sent  him  to  California 
by  way  of  the  Isthmus,  whereby  his  health 
became  better  and  his  herbarium  more  complete 
as  he  experienced  the  enjoyment  of  plucking, 
with  his  own  hands,  flowers  he  had  named  and 
described  from  dried  specimens.  The  invalu- 
able herbarium,  along  with  a  choice  botanical 
library,  he  left  to  Columbia  College. 

A  goodly  number  of  the  scientific  societies  of 
Europe  gave  him  membership ;  and  from  Yale  he 
had  the  honorary  M.  A.,  and  from  Amherst  the 
LL.  D.  He  was  president  of  the  American  Asso- 
ciation for  the  Advancement  of  Science,  and 
twice  president  of  the  New  York  Lyceum  of 
Natural  History. 

"  Almost  in  his  youth  a  genus  was  dedicated 
to  him  by  his  correspondent,  Sprengel.  This 
proved  to  be  a  Clerodendron,  misunderstood.  A 
second,  proposed  by  Rafinesque,  was  founded  on 
an  artificial  dismemberment  of  Cyperus.  The 
ground,  therefore,  was  clear,  when,  thirty  or 
forty  years  ago,  a  new  and  remarkable  evergreen 
tree  was  discovered  in  our  own  Southern  states, 


JOHN  TORREY  141 

which  it  was  at  once  determined  should  bear 
Torrey's  name.  More  recently  a  congener  was 
found  in  the  noble  forests  of  California.  Another 
species  had  already  been  recognized  in  Japan, 
and  lately  a  fourth  in  the  mountains  of  Northern 
China.  All  four  of  them  have  been  introduced, 
and  are  greatly  prized,  as  ornamental  trees  in 
Europe.'  So  that,  all  around  the  world,  Torreya 
taxifolia,  T.  Californica,  T.  nucifera,  and  T. 
grandis,  should  keep  his  memory  as  green  as  their 
own  perpetual  verdure.10 

Dr.  Gray,  being  sent  away  for  a  cough,  made 
a  journey  to  Apalachicola,  Florida,  going  by 
Washington,  Augusta  and  Tallahassee,  of  which 
journey  and  his  successful  search  for  Torreya  he 
wrote  a  lively  account  for  the  American  Agri- 
culturist, republished  in  his  Scientific  Papers. 
Dr.  W.  P.  Copeland,  of  Eufaula,  Alabama,  tells 
me  that  "  The  Chattahooche  River,  Florida,  is 
said  to  be  one  of  the  two  or  three  places  in  the 
world  where  the  Torreya  tree  grows.  It  was  dis- 
covered by  Dr.  Alvan  Chapman,  of  Apalachi- 
cola, Florida,  who  lived  at  the  mouth  of  the 
river  where  it  empties  into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 

9  Arnott's  genus  was  the  fourth  Torreya,  the  three  earlier  ones  not 
proving  "  good  "  genera  ....  but  of  course  it  is  conceivable  that  any 
one  of  the  three  might  at  any  time  come  to  be  regarded  as  "  good." 
The  name  now  accepted  for  Torreya  taxifolia  is  Tumion  taxifolium. 
Of  course  the  name  Torreya  will  undoubtedly  cling  to  the  plant  per- 
manently as  a  semi-popular  one.     (J.  H.  Barnhart.) 

10  Letters  of  Asa  Gray,  vol.  ii. 


142      SOME  AMERICAN  MEDICAL  BOTANISTS 

Torrey  investigated  Dr.  Chapmann's  discovery 
and  wrote  it  up.  With  the  irony  of  fate,  Chap- 
mann  did  not  have  the  honor  of  having  the  tree 
called  after  him. 

"  The  common  name  given  to  the  tree  by  the 
people  is  '  stinking  cedar.'  In  1877  I  saw  sev" 
eral  posts  in  Florida  on  which  a  pigeon  house 
was  supported,  the  house  said  to  have  been  built 
by  the  Spaniards  when  they  owned  Florida.  The 
posts  were  in  a  perfect  state  of  preservation. 
Another  name  the  tree  has  is {  gopher-wood  tree.' 
The  wood  is  said  to  last  for  centuries." 

Torrey  will  be  remembered  by  the  students 
of  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  as  an 
excellent  teacher.  No  man  had  a  better  under- 
standing of  their  character.  Were  they  uproari- 
ous— he  joined  in  their  glee,  and  they  soon  lent 
an  attentive  ear.  Were  they  stupid — he  was 
patient  and  painstaking.  Were  they  rude — he 
was  always  a  gentleman,  and  at  once  commanded 
respect.  He  quietly  pursued  his  course,  giving 
the  plain  truth  in  a  simple  and  comprehensive 
manner.  The  boys  always  had  a  good  time  in 
his  room,  for  he  relished  a  joke  as  much  as  any 
of  them.  In  a  serious  and  quiet  manner  he  was 
closing  a  lecture  with  some  remarks  upon  formic 
acids,  when  he  was  interrupted  by  the  reception 
of  a  note  from  one  of  the  students.  His  eye 
twinkled,  and  his  benevolent  face  changed  to  a 


JOHN  TORREY  143 

smile  as  he  glanced  at  the  question  asked :  "  Is 
not  formic  acid  an  0w/-acid?  "  He  at  once  dis- 
missed the  class  amid  shouts  of  laughter,  remark- 
ing that  he  was  not  prepared  to  give  an  imme- 
diate answer,  but  they  should  have  the  rest  of 
the  hour  to  themselves. 

"  His  faith  in  the  Holy  Scriptures  found  a 
firm  foundation  in  the  study  of  nature.  The 
God  of  the  one  was  the  God  of  the  other.  If 
there  were  difficulties,  he  knew,  if  not  immedi- 
ately, they  would  in  time  be  reconciled.  The 
more  closely  they  were  studied,  the  more  posi- 
tive would  be  the  mutual  confirmation." 

The  character  of  Torrey  is  best  depicted  in 
the  influence  he  exercised  over  Asa  Gray  when 
the  latter  came  to  live  with  the  Torrey  family. 
Mrs.  Torrey  was  also  a  woman  of  rare  character 
and  intellect,  and  devoutly  religious.  When 
Gray  became  one  of  the  family,  "  the  difference 
in  the  life,  the  contrast  in  the  way  of  meeting 
trial  and  sorrow,"  as  compared  with  his  own 
family,  "  struck  him  forcibly,  and  the  religious 
side  of  his  nature  was  aroused  and  a  serious 
interest  awakened."11 

Torrey  died  on  March  10,  1873,  at  his  house 
in  Columbia  College,  and  Gray,  writing  to  De 
Candolle  that  summer,  says: 

11  Letters  of  Asa  Gray. 


144     SOME  AMERICAN  MEDICAL  BOTANISTS 

"  At  a  time  when  I  was  already  overloaded, 
the  death  of  dear  Torrey  has  thrown  some  cares 
and  extra  work  on  me.  I  have  to  carry  through 
the  press  a  report  of  his  upon  the  plants  col- 
lected in  west  North  America,  in  Wilkes'  Expe- 
dition, which  was  drawn  up,  but  never  really 
finished,  twelve  years  ago  and  was  called  for  dur- 
ing Torrey's  sickness,  and  to  his  annoyance, 
which  I  felt  bound  to  relieve  as  well  as  I  could." 

Med.  Reg.  of  the  State  of  New  York,  1873-1874,  vol.  xi. 

John  Torrey,  by  Asa  Gray.    Am.  Jour,  of  Sci.  and  Arts,  1873,  vol.  v. 

Letters  of  Asa  Gray.    J.  L.  Gray. 


ZINA  PITCHER 
(From  a  family  portrait) 


ZINA  PITCHER 

1797-1872 
Carduus  Pitcherl — TORREY 

It  would  seem  almost  reasonable  to  expect 
plants  named  for  Zina  Pitcher  to  be  our  familiar 
"  pitcher  "  plants,  but  a  thistle,  a  peanut,  a  clema- 
tis and  a  sandwort  commemorate  the  botanist  son 
of  Nathaniel  and  Margaret  Stevenson  Pitcher, 
born  April  12,  1797,  on  a  farm  in  Washington 
County,  New  York.  When  five  years  old  his 
father  died,  leaving  the  mother  with  four  young 
sons  and  an  unattractive  farm.  Being  Scotch, 
she  had  learned  the  value  of  education,  and  she 
determined  to  provide  the  best  possible  for  her 
children.  The  little  boys  went  to  the  village 
school  and  helped  on  the  farm,  all  eventually 
doing  well — one  of  them  becoming  Acting  Gov- 
ernor of  New  York.  Zina  "  avoided  the  pleas- 
ures and  excesses  of  his  young  associates,"  so  I 
imagine  him  strolling  in  field  and  wood,  noting 
everything,  and  making  the  burden  of  dull  farm 
work  a  stepping-stone  to  his  loving  study  of  the 
natural  wonders  around  him. 

He  began  to  study  medicine  at  the  age  of 
twenty-one  with  private  practitioners,  and  at  Cas- 

145 


146     SOME  AMERICAN  MEDICAL  BOTANISTS 

tleton  Medical  College,  graduating  in  medicine 
from  Middlebury  College  in  1822.  While 
studying  he  tutored  in  Latin,  Greek  and  the  nat- 
ural sciences — the  latter  with  Professor  Eaton, 
of  Van  Rensselaer  Polytechnic  Institute,  at  Troy, 
New  York.  Soon  after  graduating,  the  Secretary 
of  War,  John  C.  Calhoun,  sent  him  a  commission 
as  assistant  surgeon  in  the  United  States  army. 
The  responsibility  of  this  position  rapidly  de- 
veloped his  self-reliance,  so  that  he  was  soon 
made  full  surgeon.  During  his  fifteen  years  of 
army  service  he  was  stationed  for  the  first  eight 
years  in  the  yet  unbroken  wilderness  of  the  terri- 
tory of  Michigan. 

Life  at  the  frontier  posts  was  not  exactly  lux- 
urious. To  read  a  list  of  the  things  deemed 
"  necessaries "  for  army  surgeons  to-day  makes 
one  wonder  how  those  of  Pitcher's  time  ever  sur- 
vived. His  friend,  Dr.  J.  L.  Whiting,  summoned 
in  1823  to  a  sick  garrison  in  Saginaw,  gives  a 
little  glimpse  of  outpost  life : 

"  I  found  the  whole  garrison  sick,  with  one  or 
two  exceptions,  and  Dr.  Zina  Pitcher,  the  surgeon 
in  charge,  the  sickest  of  the  lot.  He  was  com- 
pletely broken  up.  He  had  some  one  hundred 
and  twenty  souls,  old  and  young,  sixty  enlisted 
men,  with  officers,  laundresses  and  children, 
under  charge,  and  all  of  them  sick  but  one,  with 
one  of  the  most  abominably  distressing  fevers 


ZINA  PITCHER  147 

imaginable.  He  was  all  alone,  one  hundred  miles 
from  anywhere,  with  an  appalling  amount  of 
work  on  hand,  and  no  wonder  he  broke  down. 
When  I  reached  Saginaw  he  was  being  carried 
all  over  the  garrison  on  a  mattress,  by  men  not 
well  enough  as  yet  to  move  about  or  lift  anything, 
giving  opinions  and  advice ;  and  a  dreadful  sight 
he  presented,  I  assure  you." 

But  Pitcher  managed  to  find  time,  not  only  to 
study  medicine,  but  to  study  the  flora  around. 
He  made  friends  with  the  Indians,  wrote  con- 
cerning their  diseases  and  therapy,  and  embodied 
much  of  the  knowledge  so  acquired  in  his  mono- 
graph on  Indian  Medicine,  which  appeared  in 
Schoolcraft's  fourth  volume  on  The  Conditions 
and  Prospects  of  the  Indian  Tribes,  1854,  a  work 
preceded  and  followed  by  two  Reports  on  the 
Epidemics  of  Ohio,  Indiana  and  Michigan, 
George  Mendenhall  helping  with  the  first  two. 

In  1828,  the  Michigan  Historical  Society  was 
founded  by  General  Cass,  Schoolcraft  and 
Pitcher.  Here  explorations,  Indian  lore  and  nat- 
ural history  formed  the  subjects  for  discussion, 
and  Pitcher  secured  the  sum  of  $970  to  pur- 
chase Audubon's  splendid  work  on  ornithology. 
It  is  easy  to  imagine  the  members  gathering 
around  to  see  the  book,  and  the  mutual  congratu- 
lations upon  its  acquisition. 


148     SOME  AMERICAN  MEDICAL  BOTANISTS 

In  1824  Pitcher  married  Ann  Sheldon,  of  Kal- 
amazoo,  Michigan.  They  had  a  son  (Nathaniel) 
and  daughter  (Rose)    the  mother  died  in  1864. 
In  1867  he  married  Emily  Backus,  granddaugh- 
ter of  Col.  Nathaniel  Rochester,  of  Virginia,  the 
founder  of  Rochester,  New  York,  and,  on  the 
death  of  DeWitt  Clinton,  Acting  Governor  of 
New  York.    I  do  not  know  whether  Nathaniel 
and  Rose  helped  their  father  in  his  natural  his- 
tory work,  as  nothing  much  is  told  of  his  family 
life,  the  door  just  standing  ajar  when  we  read 
that  "  his  home  was  at  the  service  of  the  sick:  he 
was  known  to  have  taken  a  stranger  suffering 
from  small-pox  into  his  home,  and  to  both  nurse 
and  doctor  him  to  recovery.    Moreover,  to  him 
the  Bible  was  a  guide,  a  counsellor  and  an  inspi- 
ration."   Of  his  fruitful  outdoor  life  his  writings 
testify.     In  driving  through  the  country  he  at 
once  detected  an  unfamiliar  plant  or  animal,  se- 
cured  a   specimen   and   determined   its   place. 
While  in  Texas  he  collected  many  fossils  and  for- 
warded them  to  the  Philadelphia  Academy  of 
Natural  Sciences.     Studies  of  these  and  allied 
collections  were  the  basis  of  Dr.  S.  G.  Morton's 
work,  Cretaceous  System  of  the  United  States. 
One  of  the  specimens  is  known  as  Gryphaea 
Pitcheri.     In  Gray  and  Torrey's  Flora  of  the 
United  States  several  new  species  are  named  after 
Pitcher  in  acknowledgment  of  his  service  to  bot- 


ZINA  PITCHER  149 

any.  Here  are  their  names:  Carduus  Pitcheri, 
Torrey,  a  thistle  found  growing  in  the  barren 
sand  dunes  on  the  shores  of  Lakes  Michigan, 
Huron  and  Superior;  Gaura  Pitcheri,  Torrey 
and  Gray;  Falcata  Pitcheri,  Torrey  and  Gray, 
"  Pitcher's  Hog  Peanut,"  found  by  the  Red  River, 
Arkansas;  Clematis  Pitcheri,  Torrey  and  Gray, 
found  in  the  same  place  (this  plant,  by  a  revision 
of  names,  is  now  known  as  Clematis  Simsii, 
Sweet;  Arenaria  patula,  Michaux,  "  Pitcher's 
Sandwort"  (Arenaria  Pitcheri,  Nuttall).  (Tor- 
rey and  Gray,  in  Flora  of  North  America,  vol.  i.) 
"  This  genus  is  not  now  commonly  recognized, 
though  it  is  found  in  smaller  Florae  as  a  good 
genus."  (J.  H.  Barnhart.) 

His  chief  biographer,  Dr.  Frederick  G.  Novy, 
(physician  and  surgeon,  1908),  has  gathered  a 
list  of  his  forty-one  papers,  which  include : 

1832.  Penetrating  Wound  of  the  Abdomen 
and  Section  of  the  Intestinal  Canal  Successfully 
Treated  on  the  Plan  of  Ramdohr.  (American 
Journal,  Medical  Sciences,  vol.  x.)  (Under  the 
conditions  this  was  a  remarkable  piece  of  sur- 
gery.) 

1853.  ^re  Typhus  and  Typhoid  Fevers  Iden- 
tical? (Peninsular  Medical  Journal,  vol.  i,  sec- 
ond series.) 

1853.  Epilepsy  Treated  by  Ligation  of  the 
Common  Carotid  Artery.  (Peninsular  Medical 
Journal,  vol.  i.) 


SOME  AMERICAN  MEDICAL  BOTANISTS 

1855.  ®n  the  Induction  of  Puerperal  Fever  by 
Inoculation.  (Peninsular  Medical  Journal,  vol. 

ii.) 

1855.  Amputation  in  Utero.     (Ibid.,  vol.  iii.) 

1855.  Malformation  of  the  Heart.  (Ibid., 
vol.  iii.) 

Pitcher  was  elected  president  of  the  American 
Medical  Association,  at  its  meeting  in  Detroit 
in  1856;  he  edited  the  Peninsular  Medical  Jour- 
nal, 1855-1858;  he  was  president  of  the  Old  Ter- 
ritorial Medical  Society  for  fourteen  years;  and 
president  of  the  Michigan  State  Medical  Society, 
1855-1856. 

After  a  long,  active  life  he  began  to  feel  rather 
tired.  Even  botanical  fields  are  hard  to  the  feet 
when  life  lingers  in  the  shadows  of  seventy-five 
years;  moreover,  he  had  an  inoperable  bladder 
trouble  which  demanded  heroic  patience.  The 
end  came  on  April  5,  1872. 

History  University  Mich.,  Ann  Arbor,  University  Press,  1906. 

Representative  Men  in  Mich.,  1878,  vol.  i. 

Trans.  Mich.  State  Med.  Soc.,  1874. 

Mich.  Univ.  Med.  Jour.,  Ann  Arbor,  1872,  vol.  iii. 

Richmond  and  Louisville  Med.  Jour.,  Louisville,  Ky.,  1869,  vol.  vii. 

Trans.  Amer.  Med.  Ass.,  vol.  xxiii. 


CHARLES  PICKERING 

1805-1878 
Pickeringia  Montana  * — NUTTALL 

Charles  Pickering,  known  to  the  scientific 
world  as  an  anthropologist  and  botanist,  was  of 
good  New  England  stock,  being  a  grandson  of 
Col.  Timothy  Pickering,  a  member  of  Washing- 
ton's military  family  and  of  his  first  cabinet.  He 
was  born  on  Starucca  Creek,  Upper  Susque- 
hanna,  Pennsylvania,  on  a  grant  of  land  owned 
by  his  grandfather.  His  father,  Timothy  Pick- 
ering, died  when  thirty,  leaving  Charles  and  his 
brother  Edward  to  the  care  of  their  mother. 

He  left  Harvard  before  graduation,  but  took 
his  M.  D.  there  in  1826.  In  his  earlier  years  he 
used  to  make  botanical  expeditions  with  one 
William  Oakes ;  and  when  he  settled  in  Philadel- 

1  Nuttall  named  two  genera  for  Pickering.  The  first  Pickeringia 
(P.  paniculata),  of  the  family  Myrsinaceae,  turned  out  to  be  a  species 
of  Ardisia.  He  therefore  called  another  new  genus  (of  leguminous 
plants)  Pickeringia  (type,  P.  montana),  and  this  name  is  still  in  use 
among  certain  botanists.  However,  I  doubt  if  you  will  find  the  name 
adopted  in  any  recent  American  publication ;  for  the  view  now  pre- 
vails that  a  name  can  be  used  only  for  the  genus  for  which  it  was  first 
proposed,  and  if  it  cannot  be  used  for  that  (as  Pickeringia  cannot, 
because  Ardisia  is  an  older  name)  it  cannot  be  used  for  any.  The 
second  Pickeringia  is  now  Xylothamnia.  (J.  H.  Barnhart.) 

15* 


SOME  AMERICAN   MEDICAL  BOTANISTS 

phia  in  1 829,  he  had  a  strong  bent  towards  natural 
science,  very  soon  being  appointed  one  of  the 
curators  at  the  Academy  of  Natural  Sciences,  and 
during  this  time  publishing  a  brief  essay  on  The 
Geographical  Distribution  and  Leading  Charac- 
ters of  the  United  States  Flora. 

When  the  United  States  Exploring  Expedition 
was  organized  in  the  autumn  of  1838  to  sail  for 
the  South  Seas,  Pickering  was  elected  as  the  prin- 
cipal zoologist,  and  the  fame  of  that  expedition 
rests  chiefly  on  the  work  he  then  did  with  Pro- 
fessor Dana.  Although  Pickering  retained  the 
ichthyology,  he  went  keenly  into  the  geograph- 
ical distribution  of  animals  and  plants;  to  the 
latter  especially,  as  affected  by  the  operations 
and  movements  of  the  races  of  man.  A  year 
after  the  expedition,  and  at  his  own  expense,  he 
visited  Egypt,  Arabia,  Eastern  Africa  and  West- 
ern and  Northern  India,  publishing  in  1848  his 
volume  The  Races  of  Men  and  their  Geograph- 
ical Distribution  (vol.  ix,  Wilkes  Exploring 
Expedition  Report}.  In  the  fifteenth  volume 
appeared  his  Geographical  Distribution  of  Ani- 
mals and  Plants.  He  had  no  better  luck  than 
many  a  scientist;  for,  in  the  course  of  printing, 
Congressional  appropriations  stopped,  and  the 
publication  of  further  Reports  was  abandoned. 
But,  under  privilege,  he  brought  out  in  1854  a 
small  edition  of  the  first  part  of  his  essay,  and  in 


CHARLES  PICKERING  153 

1876  a  more  bulky  one  On  Plants  and  Animals  in 
Their  Wild  State.  These  writings,  and  some 
contributions  to  scientific  journals,  notably  to  the 
Smithsonian  Contributions  to  Knowledge,  con- 
stituted his  no  mean  help  to  the  study  of  natural 
science ;  but  he  had  been  long  and  lovingly  work- 
ing on  a  book  yet  unfinished  when  he  died,  a 
book  edited  afterwards  by  his  wife,  Sarah  S. 
Pickering,  and  appearing  in  1879,  entitled  Chro- 
nological History  of  Plants,  or  Man's  Record  of 
His  Own  Existence. 

Professor  Harshberger,  from  whom  I  have 
largely  quoted,  says  he  was  singularly  retiring 
and  reticent,  dry  in  ordinary  intercourse,  but  to 
those  who  knew  him  well,  communicative  and 
genial. 

The  Botanists  of  Philadelphia.    J.  W.  Harshberger.    1889. 
Proc.  Acad.  Nat.  Sc.,  Phila.,  1878.    W.  S.  W.  Ruschenberger. 


JOHN  LEONARD  RIDDELL 

1807-1865 
Riddellia  tagetina—NUTTALL 

John  Leonard  Riddell,  physician,  author  and 
inventor,  was  born  in  Leyden,  Massachusetts,  in 
1807,  of  fine  Scotch-Irish  ancestry  which  could 
be  traced  back  to  the  eighth  century. 

He  held  his  degrees  of  A.  B.  and  A.  M.  from 
the  Van  Rensselaer  School  of  Troy,  New  York, 
and  began  his  career  as  a  lecturer  on  scientific 
subjects.  In  1835  he  was  made  adjunct  professor 
of  chemistry  and  botany  in  the  Cincinnati  Medi- 
cal College,  from  which  he  received  his  M.  D. ; 
and  during  this  year,  also,  he  published  A  Synop- 
sis of  the  Flora  of  the  Western  States,  the  pioneer 
botany  of  that  section  of  the  country.  In  1836 
he  became  professor  of  chemistry  in  the  Medical 
College  of  Louisiana,  a  distinction  which  he  en- 
joyed until  his  death  in  1865. 

His  catalogue  of  Louisiana  plants  secures  to 
him  the  discovery  of  several  new,  or  unobserved 
species,  one  genus  being  called  for  him  Riddellia 
(Riddellia  tagetina,  Nuttall). 

Professor  Barnhart  tells  me  that: 

"  The  manuscript,  which  was  published  in  the 
New  Orleans  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal,  vol. 


154 


JOHN  L.  RIDDELL 


JOHN   LEONARD  RIDDELL  155 

viii,  pp.  743-764,  May,  1852,  is  prefaced  by  this 
paragraph: 

"  '  The  following  systematic  list,  embodying 
the  results  of  a  great  many  years  of  observation, 
by  Dr.  Josiah  Hale,  by  the  late  Prof.  W.  M.  Car- 
penter, and  by  the  author  (Riddell),  has  been 
abridged  from  a  manuscript  work  contributed  by 
the  author,  in  1851,  to  the  Smithsonian  Institu- 
tion. The  manuscript  work  alluded  to  is  entitled 
"Plants  of  Louisiana."  It  comprises  the  tech- 
nical and  the  vulgar  names  of  the  flowering  and 
filicoid  species  of  plants,  well  ascertained  as 
growing  within  the  limits  of  the  State  of  Louisi- 
ana (nearly  all  of  which  are  represented  by  speci- 
mens in  the  author's  herbarium) — with  special 
localities,  times  of  flowering,  and  full  descrip- 
tions of  the  new  species.  The  Cyperaceae  and 
Gramineae,  specially  contributed  by  Dr.  Hale, 
are  not  included  in  the  present  abridgement.' 

"  There  is  another  reference  to  the  manuscript 
in  the  Botanical  Gazette,  vol.  viii,  pp.  270  and 
271,  August,  1883,  which  gives  no  further  data 
regarding  the  manuscript,  but  states  that  {  His 
herbarium  ....  is  said  to  have  been  very  large 
and  excellently  arranged.' 

"  There  is  a  further  reference  to  his  herbarium 
in  the  Ohio  Naturalist,  vol.  i,  p.  33,  January, 
1901,  which  states  that  scarcely  any  of  his  speci- 
mens seem  now  to  be  in  existence,  though  he  pre- 


I  $6     SOME  AMERICAN  MEDICAL  BOTANISTS 

pared  sets  for  sale  and  accumulated  a  large 
herbarium." 

In  1838  the  President  of  the  United  States  ap- 
pointed Dr.  Riddell  melter  and  refiner  for  New 
Orleans,  in  recognition  of  the  creditable  work 
performed  in  a  scientific  exploration  conducted 
in  Texas;  he  held  this  office  until  1849.  In  1844 
he  was  one  of  a  commission  recommended  by  the 
governor  and  legislature  to  devise  a  means  for 
protecting  New  Orleans  from  overflow,  and 
about  this  period  he  became  devoted  to  micros- 
copy and  invented  the  binocular  microscope. 
(Ency.  Brit,  vol.  xvi,  ninth  edition.) 

He  it  was  who  advocated  the  organic  nature 
of  miasm  and  contagion  as  early  as  1836,  and 
later  made  extensive  investigations  concerning 
the  microscopic  characteristics  of  the  blood  in 
cholera  and  yellow  fever. 

Daniel  Drake  and  his  followers.    Otto  Juettner. 
N.  Orleans  Med.  &  Surg.  Jour.,  vol.  xix,  1866-1867. 
Personal  Communications. 


GEORGE  ENGELMANN 

1809-1884 
Engelmannia  pinnatifida — TORREY 

The  sponsorial  claimant  of  Engelmannia  is 
first  seen  at  Frankfurt-on-the-Main,  the  eldest  of 
thirteen  children  (his  birthday  February  2, 
1809),  and  in  student  days  at  Heidelberg  Uni- 
versity particularly  happy  because  Agassiz,  Karl 
Schimper1  and  Alexander  Braun3  were  also 
there.  The  next  glimpse  shows  him  graduating 
as  a  doctor  at  Wiirzburg  and  reading  a  thesis 
on  De  Antholysi  Prodromus,  in  good  Latin, 
treating  of  morphological  monstrosities  in  plants 
and  their  metamorphoses.  Goethe  noticed  and 
approved  it  and  offered  to  place  his  own  notes 
and  sketches  in  his  hands,  but  death  intervened 
and  carried  off  the  poet.  "  This  essay,"  says  Dr. 
Boisliniere,8  "  was  soon  followed  by  a  mono- 
graph, also  in  Latin,  on  the  habits  of  a  little 
creeper  he  had  found  on  a  hazel  bush,  and  it 
delighted  scientists  on  account  of  the  minute- 
ness and  perfection  of  the  observations.  He 
always  investigated  systematically  and  accepted 
in  science  nothing  for  granted  until  it  had  passed 

1  Karl  F.  Schimper,  botanist,  1803-1867. 

2  Alexander  Braun,  botanist,  1805-1877. 

3  St.  Louis  Med.  &  Sur.  Jour.,  1893. 

157 


I  $8      SOME  AMERICAN  MEDICAL  BOTANISTS 

through  the  searching  crucible  of  his  analogical 
mind." 

Before  coming  to  America  he  spent  a  year  in 
Paris  studying  medicine  and  obstetrics.  Cholera 
was  raging  most  of  the  time,  but  he  had  Agassiz 
and  Braun  with  him,  and  much  useful  scientific 
investigation  was  made. 

Meanwhile,  in  1832,  glowing  accounts  of  the 
possibilities  in  western  America  had  reached  two 
of  his  uncles  in  Dresden,  and  these  resolved  to 
make  land  investments  in  the  Mississippi  Valley. 
Some  relations  were  already  settled  in  Illinois; 
why  not  send  nephew  George  to  investigate?  He 
could  botanize  and  perhaps  found  a  practice.  So 
it  was  arranged,  and  the  student  from  crowded 
Paris  "  made  long  and  lonely  journeys  through 
southern  Illinois,  Missouri  and  Arkansas."  In 
his  excursions  through  the  wilds  of  Arkansas  he 
stopped  one  night  at  a  farmer's  rude  cabin,  arid 
while  cleaning  the  large  knife  which  he  used  to 
dig  out  plants  and  roots,  the  farmer,  watching 
him  closely,  and  thinking  that  Engelmann  had 
some  murderous  design,  stepped  forward  and 
said, "  Look  ye  here,  stranger,  let  us  swap  knives  " 
— at  the  same  time  brandishing  a  vicious-looking 
"  Arkansas  toothpick."  Engelmann  was  at  some 
trouble  to  convince  this  backwoodsman  that  he 
used  his  knife  only  to  dig  out  roots. 

He  used  to  make  notes  on,  and  sketch  the 
plants  en  route,  and  must  have  had  that  rara  avis, 


GEORGE  ENGELMANN  I  £9 

an  intelligent  secretary,  for  the  collected  notes 
were  all  found  and  filled  sixty  file  books  in  the 
Missouri  Botanical  Museum  after  his  death. 

"  His  method  of  working  was  to  take  a  single 
group  of  plants  and  work  it  over  systematically, 
so  far  as  was  in  his  power.  His  treatment  of  the 
genus  cuscuta  *  increased  the  number  of  species 
from  one  to  fourteen,  without  going  west  of  the 
Mississippi  Valley.  Seventeen  years  later  .... 
he  published  a  systematic  arrangement,  giving 
twenty-seven  species,  besides  varieties." 

After  several  excursions  he  decided  to  settle 
in  St.  Louis,  then  a  town  of  only  10,000  inhabi- 
tants. It  required  some  courage;  for  he  was  not 
rich,  and  even  had  to  sell  his  guns  and  pistols  to 
help  pay  the  rent.  Fortunately,  St.  Louis  was  a 
growing  city,  and  it  was  soon  discovered  there 
was  no  one  more  skillful  in  ushering  young  citi- 
zens into  the  world  than  Dr.  Engelmann ;  he  was 
the  first  there  to  use  the  obstetric  forceps,  though 
the  local  accouchers  were  strongly  against  the 
innovation. 

Four  years  of  patient,  hard  work  in  St.  Louis 
permitted  a  visit  home  to  "  the  happy  father- 
land "  to  marry  Dora  Horstman.  She  had  been 
waiting  ten  years  and  was  ready  to  travel  to  far- 
away Missouri  with  her  husband,  who,  with  a 
somewhat  heavy  practice  in  town,  a  love  of  bot- 

4  A  genus  of  parasitic  plants  of  the  convolvulus  family. 
13 


160     SOME  AMERICAN  MEDICAL  BOTANISTS 

any  drawing  him  to  the  country,  and  a  strong 
scientific  bent,  especially  towards  meteorology, 
could  not  have  had  much  time  for  the  young 
wife;  yet,  when  she  died  in  1879,  ms  friend,  Dr. 
Boisliniere  says :  "  Engelmann  was  inconsol- 
able and  in  spite  of  attempted  consolation  by  his 
friends,  of  whom  I  had  the  honor  to  be  one,  and 
occasional  visits  to  the  Rocky  Mountains  and 
Colorado,  he  gradually  succumbed  to  the  inten- 
sity of  his  sorrow." 

During  the  latter  part  of  his  life  he  travelled 
over  the  mountains  of  North  Carolina  and  Ten- 
nessee, the  Lake  Superior  region  and  the  Colo- 
rado plains  to  study  in  situ  the  Cacti,  Coniferae 
and  other  groups.  The  year  of  his  wife's  death 
he  made  a  long  journey  through  the  Pacific  States 
to  see,  in  full  dress  and  beauty,  many  plants  hith- 
erto known  as  half-clothed  exiles,  or  viewed  lying 
stiff  and  stark  in  an  herbarium.  He  published  in 
America  his  masterpiece,  The  Monography  of 
North  American  Cuscutinae.  This  was  repub- 
lished  by  botanical  periodicals  in  England  and 
Germany ;  also  in  America,  in  1 842,  by  the  Amer- 
ican Journal  of  Science.  His  descriptions  of  the 
Cactaceae  of  the  Pacific  Railroad  Survey  fol- 
lowed; and  several  years  later  came  his  most 
renowned  work  on  the  Cactaceae  of  the  bound- 
ary, which  forms  a  highly  interesting  portion  of 
Emory's  Report  of  the  United  States  and  Mexi- 
can Boundary  Survey,  1858.  He  went  over  to 


GEORGE  ENGELMANN  l6l 

Europe  in  1856  and  stayed  there  two  years,  di- 
recting the  engraving  of  the  plates  for  this  work. 

Many  other  papers  on  botany  were  also  pub- 
lished by  him  at  different  times:  The  Yucca, 
The  Agave,  The  Conifer  a,  The  American  Oaks, 
etc.  His  publications  on  the  North  American 
vines  deserve  particular  mention  for  their  im- 
portance to  the  grape-growers  of  this  country 
and  of  Europe.  In  1856  he  originated  the  St. 
Louis  Academy  of  Science,  of  which  he  was  first 
president. 

His  name  has  been  given  to  a  monotypic  genus 
of  plants,  Engelmannia,  by  Torrey  and  Gray. 
There  are  many  letters  to  Engelmann  in  The  Let- 
ters of  Asa  Gray,  and  in  one  (1841)  he  refers  to 
a  species  named  after  his  friend :  "  Eupatorium 
Engelmannianum,  sp.  nov.  Am.  Bor.,  semina 
misit  Engelmann.  Can  this  be  it,  think  you?  If 
so,  pray  help  me  to  it,  and  to  anything  else  you 
can,  as  I  mean  to  give  addenda  et  corrigenda  to 
the  Compositae  at  the  end  of  the  order  if  I  ever 
get  through  this  formidable  job.  No  wonder 
seven  years7  labor  at  them  ruined  De  Candolle's 
health.  You  know  he  is  dead?  " 

There  is  another  letter  from  the  cheery  Gray 
worth  quoting.    Writing  to  Engelmann  on  July 
4,  1877,  he  says: 
"  Dear  old  E.  : 

"Never  mind  if  you  are  seventy;  Hooker  is 
sixty,  and  I  am  between,  and  we  are  lively  yet. 


1 62      SOME  AMERICAN   MEDICAL  BOTANISTS 

"  Perhaps  we  young  fellows  may  knock  about 
rather  faster  than  you  like,  wanting  to  do  much 
in  a  little  time.  But  then,  you  need  not  do  so 
much  in  Colorado  as  we.  Take  the  easy  part 
....  I  shall  be  sorry  if  you  fail  us. 

"  We  must  twine  in  Cuscuta  as  we  twine  in 
the  rest  of  the  book.  For  real  accuracy  we  must 
finally  come  to  the  terms  I  propose,  entropic 
and  antitropic." 

This  was  written  two  years  before  Mrs.  En- 
gelmann  died  and  Engelmann's  health  failed.  A 
journey  was  taken  to  Germany  in  1883,  and  he 
picked  up  again,  was  even  able  to  work  there; 
but  after  more  sickness  he  came  back,  was  again 
helped  by  the  voyage  over,  and  again  did  some 
work,  but  increasing  infirmities  gradually  less- 
ened his  powers  until  his  death  on  February  4, 
1884. 

A  list  of  his  botanical  papers  has  been  pub- 
lished by  Prof.  C.  S.  Sargent  in  Coulter's  Botan- 
ical Gazette  for  May,  1884,  who  enumerates  one 
hundred  and  twelve  entries,  and  also  counts 
thirty-eight  scientific  societies  of  which  Dr. 
Engelmann  was  a  member. 

Am.  Jour,  of  Sci.,  New  Haven,  1884,  3  s.,  vol.  xxviii.     (A.  Gray.) 
Pop.  Sci.  Mon.,  New  York,  1886,  vol.  xxix. 

St.  Louis  Med.  and  Surg.  Jour.,  1893,  vol.  Ixv.     (L.  C.  Boisliniere.) 
Science,  Cambridge,  1884,  vol.  iii. 
Weekly  Med.  Rev.,  Chicago,  1884,  vol.  ix. 

A  Biographical  History  of  Botany  in  St.  Louis,  Mo.     Dr.  Perley 
Spaulding,  1909. 


ALVAN  WENTWORTH  CHAPMAN 

1809-1899 
Chapmannia  Floridana — TORREY  AND  GRAY 

I  managed  with  great  difficulty  to  secure  a 
copy  of  the  Flora  of  the  Southern  United  States 
(1860),  by  Alvan  W.  Chapman,  of  Apalachi- 
cola,  Florida,  but  I  had  not  much  success  in  trac- 
ing the  life  of  the  author.  He  was  born  in 
Southampton,  Massachusetts,  graduated  at  Am- 
herst  College  in  1830,  and  began  practice  in  Apa- 
lachicola  in  1847.  His  Flora  was  preceded  by 
A  List  of  Plants  Growing  In  the  Vicinity  of 
Qulncy,  Florida,  1845,  while  the  Flora  ran 
through  two  extra  editions,  1882  and  1896,  and 
became  the  leading  authority  for  the  Southern 
States.  Gray  and  Torrey  named  one  of  the  papi- 
lionaceae  Chapmannia  Floridana  after  him;  and 
Gray,  writing  in  his  Journal,  1839,  says,  Chap- 
mannla  exists  in  Bartram's  old  collection  here, 
which  you  saw  at  the  British  Museum." 

Chapman's  first  and  larger  herbarium  went  to 
Columbia  University,  and  a  later  collection  with 
most  of  his  library,  is  owned  in  Biltmore,  North 
Carolina,  by  the  Vanderbilt  estate. 

163 


164     SOME  AMERICAN  MEDICAL  BOTANISTS 

The  people  of  Apalachicola  hope  some  day  to 
erect  a  suitable  monument  over  Chapman  in  their 
city  graveyard ;  but  the  perishable  flower  is  more 
enduring,  and,  if  the  ghostly  sponsor,  with  unim- 
pressioning  feet,  should  tread  again  these  earthly 
fields,  his  spirit  will  be  sufficiently  gratified  to 
find  his  work  marked  "  rare  "  in  the  antiquarian's 
catalogue. 


ASA  GRAY 

(From  an  engraving  by  Gustav  Kruell,   1890) 


ASA  GRAY 

1810-1888 
Lilium  Grayli — HOOKER  AND  ARNOTT 

Could  our  great  men  come  into  the  world  so 
labelled,  expectant  relations  would  surely  treas- 
ure up  for  posterity  all  those  evidences  of  genius 
or  the  curious  lack  of  it  in  childhood  and  youth 
which  so  arouse  our  wonder  in  later  years,  when 
they  have  passed  within  the  hall  of  fame.  But 
the  first  generation  dies,  and  the  son  who  is  leader 
in  the  next  has  too  great  modesty  to  pour  out 
for  an  expectant,  eager  posterity  all  of  his  early 
career.  So,  of  Asa  Gray,  there  survives  only  a 
group  of  uncertain  reminiscent  planks  with 
which  to  bridge  the  gaps  in  an  interesting  life 
— a  life  which  started  in  the  household  of  a 
tanner  in  Sauquoit,  Oneida  County,  New  York, 
on  the  1 8th  of  November,  1810,  the  parents  being 
Moses  and  Roxana  Gray,  the  father  hailing  orig- 
inally from  Londonderry,  Ireland,  and  the 
mother  from  Kent,  England. 

Not  long  after  Asa's  birth  they  moved  to  Paris, 
Furnace  Hollow,  Sauquoit,  and  set  up  a  tannery 
and  a  shoe  shop.  "  Of  the  tannery,"  says  Gray, 

165 


1 66      SOME  AMERICAN   MEDICAL  BOTANISTS 

"  I  retain  some  vivid  recollections,  especially 
those  connected  with  the  first  use  to  which  I  was 
put,  the  driving  round  the  ring  of  the  old  horse 
which  turned  the  bark  mill,  and  the  supplying 
the  said  mill  with  its  grist  of  bark — a  lonely  and 
monotonous  occupation."  A  young  aunt  of  ten 
escorted  him,  when  three,  to  the  village  school, 
where  his  genius  seemed  to  lie  in  spelling,  and 
his  chief  occupation  in  "  my  omnivorous  read- 
ing   I  was  a  reader  almost  from  my 

cradle There  was  a  little  subscription 

library  at  Sauquoit,  the  stockholders  of  which 
met  four  times  a  year  and  distributed  the  books  by 
auction  to  the  highest  bidder,  to  have  and  to  hold 
for  three  months.  One  Sunday  afternoon  .... 
I  went  into  the  public  room  of  one  of  the  two 
village  inns,  where  half  a  dozen  of  the  villagers 
were  assembled  and  one  was  reading  aloud 
Quentin  Durward  ....  this  was  my  first 
introduction  to  the  Waverley  novels."  The  com- 
ing of  seven  more  little  Grays  somewhat  depre- 
ciated the  increased  family  prosperity,  but  Asa, 
after  some  years  at  academies,  was  sent,  without 
any  college  education,  to  the  Fairfield  Medical 
College,  where  he  graduated  in  medicine  in  1 83 1 , 
with  a  thesis  on  Gastritis.  The  data  for  this 
maiden  medical  lucubration  may  well  have  been 
generated  in  the  youthful  stomach,  sorely  tried 
by  being  "  boarded  out "  by  an  uncle  who  sold 


ASA  GRAY  167 

stoves  and  let  some  of  the  buyers  feed  Asa  and 
a  fellow-student  in  lieu  of  paying  for  the  goods. 
"  One  woman  fed  us  so  much  on  boiled  salt  cod, 
not  always  of  the  freshest,  that  the  sight  of  that 
dish  still  calls  up  ancient  memories  not  altogether 
agreeable." 

The  spring  and  summer  of  1827  were  passed 
with  Dr.  Priest  of  Sauquoit,  and  in  the  course  of 
the  winter  at  Fairfield  he  bought  Eaton's  Manual 
of  Botany,  "  pored  over  its  pages  and  waited  for 

spring I  sailed  forth  one  April  day  into 

the  bare  woods,  found  an  early  specimen  of  a 
plant  in  flower  peeping  through  dead  leaves, 
brought  it  home,  and,  with  Eaton's  Manual,  with- 
out much  difficulty  I  ran  it  down  to  its  name — 
Claytonia  Virginica.  (It  was  really  C.  Caro- 
llniana,  but  the  two  were  not  distinguished  in 
that  book.)  I  was  well  pleased,  and  went  on  col- 
lecting and  examining  all  the  flowers  I  could  lay 

hands  on I  began  an  herbarium  of 

shockingly  bad  specimens." 

"  In  addition  to  Dr.  Hadley's  summer  course 
of  lectures  on  chemistry,  Dr.  Lewis  C.  Beck  used 
to  come  and  deliver  a  short  course  of  lectures  on 
botany.  He  gave  this  up  the  year  in  which  I 
received  my  M.  D. ;  so  Professor  Hadley  invited 
me  to  come  and  give  the  course  instead." 

About  two  years  after,  Professor  Torrey  en- 
gaged Gray  to  go  and  collect  plants  in  the  pine 


1 68      SOME  AMERICAN  MEDICAL  BOTANISTS 

barrens  of  New  Jersey,  he  to  take  the  half  of  the 
collection  and  pay  expenses  in  the  field.  While 
at  Quaker  Bridge  he  met  a  "  fine-looking  man 
who  came  down  in  a  chaise  looking  after  some 
particular  insect";  this  was  Major  Le  Conte, 
long  time  a  resident  of  Philadelphia  and  active 
member  of  the  noted  Academy  of  Natural  Sci- 
ences, whom  I  also  knew  for  many  years. 

The  following  year — Gray  is  not  quite  sure  of 
the  date — he  got  a  furlough  from  Harriett's 
School  at  Utica,  where  he  was  teaching  botany, 
and  became  assistant  to  Torrey  during  his  course 
of  chemical  lectures  in  the  Medical  College  of 
New  York,  living  in  his  house  in  the  herbarium 
and  receiving  $80  as  pay. 

The  first  century  of  his  North  American  Gra- 
mineae  and  Cyperaceae  came  out  in  the  winter 
of  1834.  But  rather  a  disappointing  time  came 
between  this  and  the  next  century,  in  1835.  He 
had  thrown  up  the  appointment  at  Bartlett's 
School,  and  now  Torrey — the  Medical  College 
being  in  a  bad  way — found  he  could  no  longer 
have  an  assistant;  but  Gray  determined  to  go  to 
New  York  and  help  him.  Staying  with  Torrey 
was  really  a  fine  part  of  Gray's  education;  for 
the  scientist  was  also  a  devout  Christian  and,  with 
his  religious,  kindly  wife,  criticised  and  amended 
the  young  man's  manners,  tastes  and  habits,  rous- 


ASA  GRAY  169 

ing  the  deeper  side  of  his  nature  and  creating  a 
lifelong  faith. 

In  the  spring  of  1835  he  went  home  for  a 
while,  armed  with  such  books  as  De  Candolle's 
Organographia  and  Theorie  Elementaire,  which 
he  "  devoured  like  novels."  Here,  too,  he  partly 
wrote  his  Elements  of  Botany.  Returning  to 
New  York  and  taking  cheap  lodgings,  he  found 
"  the  prospect  for  daily  bread  rather  dark  " ;  but 
Carvill,  of  New  York  City,  agreed  to  take  his 
Elements  and  give  him  $150.  His  friend,  John 
Carey,1  helped  read  the  proofs,  over  which  there 
was  "  warm  and  noisy  discussion "  as  they 
worked  together  at  his  boarding-house.  Brighter 
times  came  when  the  New  York  Lyceum  of 
Natural  History  completed  its  hall  and  ap- 
pointed Gray  Curator,  on  very  small  pay,  but 
with  time  to  write.  "  There  I  wrote  my  papers 
Remarks  on  the  Structure  and  Affinities  of  the 
Ceratophyllaceae,  1837,  not  a  very  wise  produc- 
tion, and  some  of  the  observations  are  incorrect; 
also  the  better  paper,  really  rather  good,  Mel- 
anthacearum  Americae  Septentrionalis  Revisio, 

i837." 

Torrey  had  planned  and  was  working  very 
slowly  on  his  Flora  of  North  America  when 
Gray  came  offering  his  leisure  to  work  up  some 

1John   Carey,  botanist,  1880,   wrote  chapters  on  "Willows" 

and  "  Sedges  "  in  the  Manual  of  Botany. 


170     SOME  AMERICAN  MEDICAL  BOTANISTS 

of  the  earlier  orders,  manifesting  the  catholicity 
of  spirit  of  a  real  genius.  The  great  desideratum 
was  to  get  a  big  and  useful  work  through,  and 
Torrey  welcomed  the  help,  though  he  nearly  lost 
it,  for  Gray  had  been  appointed  in  1836  botanist 
to  a  South  Pacific  Exploration.  However,  there 
were  so  many  "  alarums  and  excursions,"  such 
endless  delays,  that  the  explorers  did  not  sail 
until  1838,  and  meanwhile  Gray  had  accepted 
the  professorship  of  Botany  in  the  University  of 
Michigan  and  continued  helping  Torrey,  who, 
quick  to  appreciate  Gray's  value,  asked  him  to 
be  joint  author.  The  first  part  was  issued  in 
July,  the  second  in  October,  1838,  at  their  joint 
expense,  Gray  paying  his  with  the  salary  received 
while  waiting  orders  for  the  South  Pacific  voy- 
age. That  same  year  inclination  and  circum- 
stances jumped  together.  It  was  quite  clear  that 
he  could  not  "  profess  "  anything  in  a  University 
which  had  no  building,  and  equally  clear  that 
not  enough  was  known  of  the  original  sources 
of  information  to  work  up  the  North  American 
flora  properly.  Michigan  University  wanted 
books  for  a  general  library.  Torrey  and  Gray 
equally  wanted  much  information  from  Europe. 
Michigan  behaved  generously  and  gave  Gray  a 
year's  leave,  with  $1,500  as  salary  and  $5,000  to 
spend  on  books  in  Europe. 


ASA  GRAY  171 

Gray  made  the  most  of  his  year;  his  letters 
home  are  crowded  with  the  joys  of  visits  to  old 
friends,  the  making  of  new  ones  and  the  happy 
times  spent  in  botanic  gardens.  These  epistles — 
most  of  them — have  been  gathered  in  the  Letters 
of  Asa  Gray  and  present  delightful  reading  for 
all  true  botanists. 

The  head  of  the  Putnam  firm — George  Put- 
nam— then  living  in  London,  guided  him  in 
obtaining  the  books  his  friends  recommended  for 
the  University  of  Michigan;  and  it  is  easy  to 
imagine  Gray  walking  around  with  a  notebook, 
jotting  down  titles,  and  also  his  pleasure  in  going 
over  the  books  on  his  return,  as  he  dilated  on  their 
special  merits,  lingering  a  while,  before  he  put 
one  down,  as  he  recalled  the  man  or  circum- 
stances which  had  led  to  that  particular  purchase. 

The  authorities  of  Michigan  University  were 
quite  willing  to  extend  his  furlough  (without 
pay)  ;  so  Gray  "  took  sharp  hold  of  the  Flora  of 
North  America,  and  in  June,  1840,  put  out  parts 
3  and  4  of  vol.  i,  then  went  at  the  Compositae." 
But  the  work  was  interrupted  for  a  while,  be- 
cause he  went  with  John  Carey  on  a  botanical 
trip  up  the  Valley  of  Virginia  to  the  mountains  of 
North  Carolina. 

Sometime  in  April,  1841,  President  Quincy, 
of  Harvard  University,  wrote  offering  him  the 
Fisher  Professorship  of  Natural  History,  with 


172      SOME  AMERICAN  MEDICAL  BOTANISTS 

$1,500  annually.  As  the  chief  subject  was  to  be 
botany  and  the  care  of  the  Botanical  Garden, 
some  seven  acres,  he  accepted  the  offer  and  tells 
Torrey  that  he  has  "  the  privilege  of  spending 
$100  in  botanical  illustrations,  to  be  the  property 
of  the  college,"  and  asks  his  advice,  adding: 
"  Though  greatly  behind-hand  I  must  get  Com- 
positae  all  done  this  month.  I  am  deep  among 
Thistles,  which  are  thorny,  though  I  see  they  are 
satisfactionable." 

He  was  very  nervous  about  his  first  lecture. 
He  "  made  a  few  remarks  without  stammering 
a  bit."  Once,  at  the  end  of  the  hour,  he  offered 
another  hour  with  the  option  of  leaving,  but  they 
all  remained.  Another  time  he  caught  "  one  of 
the  fellows  throwing  his  cap  to  a  companion  or 
playing  some  trick.  You  know  I  can  scold;  so 
I  gave  him  about  half  a  dozen  words  which  made 
him  open  his  eyes  wide,  and  I  do  not  think  that 
he,  nor  any  of  that  division,  will  venture  upon 
anything  of  the  kind  very  soon." 

Gray  also  takes  a  Sunday  School  class  "  of 
eight  or  nine  very  intelligent  misses  from  sixteen 
to  twelve,"  a  variation  after  a  week  with  rough 
students.  He  did  a  good  deal  in  the  way  of  plan- 
ning lectures  when  away  in  Virginia  and  Caro- 
lina in  the  fall  of  1843.  Dr.  George  Engelmann 
hears  from  him  that  he  is  also  "  preparing  for  a 
terrible  course  of  public  lectures,  so  that  I  cannot 


ASA  GRAY  173 

work  at  the  Flora  until  spring.  But  I  will  find 
time  to  study  and  revise  any  sets  of  Lindheimer's, 

Geyer's  and  Liider's  plants  you  send As 

to  my  paper  on  Geratophyllaceae,  I  have  long 
since  wished  it  unpublished,  as  it  contains  mis- 
taken views." 

His  life  at  this  time  was  very  full,  and  friends 
laughingly  recall  his  alertness,  mental  and  physi- 
cal. "  In  the  street  he  was  usually  on  a  half-run. 
....  When  travelling  by  coach  and  climbing 
a  hill,  he  would  sometimes  alarm  his  fellow- 
travellers  by  suddenly  disappearing  through  a 
window,  in  his  eagerness  to  secure  some  plant 
he  had  spied.  He  was  quick  and  impetuous  in 
temper,  but  his  prevailing  spirit  was  one  of 
apparently  inexhaustible  good  nature."  Prof. 
J.  K.  Hosmer  says:  "  On  an  autumn  day,  in  the 
early  fifties,  as  I  loitered  in  the  greenhouse  of  the 
Botanic  Garden  at  Cambridge,  a  lithe,  bare- 
headed man,  in  rough  brown  attire,  quickly 
stepped  in  from  the  flower-beds  outside.  He  was 
in  his  fullest  vigor,  his  hair  smooth,  his  dark 
eyes  full  of  animation.  It  was  a  noticeably  vivid 
and  alert  personality;  and  as  he  tossed  onto  a 
working-table  a  heavy  sheaf  of  long-stemmed 
plants,  wet  from  a  recent  shower,  and  bent  over 
them  in  sharp  scrutiny,  I  became  aware  I  was  in 
the  presence  of  Asa  Gray,  the  first  of  American 
botanists.  He  had  come  as  a  boy  from  a  remote 


174     SOME  AMERICAN  MEDICAL  BOTANISTS 

rural  district;  and  with  few  advantages,  follow- 
ing the  bent  of  a  marked  scientific  genius,  he  had 
won  for  himself  before  reaching  middle  life  a 
leading  place.  I  was  soon  to  know  him  better, 
for  it  was  my  fortunate  lot  to  be  one  in  the  crowd 
of  juniors  which  for  a  term  lined  up  before  him 
once  a  week  or  so  in  Holden  Chapel." 

He  was  happy,  too,  in  his  work,  though  ham- 
pered for  want  of  funds  for  the  garden  and  his 
books.  He  found  it  difficult,  in  1847, to  make  an 
arrangement  "  for  the  publication  of  the  Illus- 
trated Genera  and  arranged  to  pay  the  expenses 
of  the  first  volume,  but  it  led  him  heavily  into 
debt."  The  first  edition  of  his  Manual  appeared 
in  1848,  "  a  model  of  clear  arrangement  and  mas- 
terly description."  Associated  with  the  Manual 
were  the  various  text-books,  from  How  Plants 
Grow,  1858,  to  the  Structural  Botany,  1879.  One 
of  his  best  papers  was  on  The  Relation  of  the 
Japanese  Flora  to  that  of  North  America. 

Gray,  with  his  wife,  sailed  for  England  on 
June  n,  1850.  Though  it  is  tempting  to  dwell 
on  all  his  journeys,  his  visits  and  enthusiastic 
work  while  abroad,  the  boundaries  of  a  short 
biography  would  soon  be  passed. 

How  much  he  did  in  the  way  of  collecting  and 
writing  can  only  be  estimated  by  those  who  knew 
how  he  kept  in  constant  correspondence  with  old 
pupils  and  scientists.  Those  who  are  curious  as 


ASA  GRAY  175 

to  that  between  Gray  and  Darwin  will  find  it  all 
in  Gray's  Darwiniana,  1876,  and  will  note  that 
he,  while  accepting  Darwin's  theory,  was  a  firm 
theist.  He  tells  Darwin  ( 1871 ) ,  in  thanking  him 
for  his  Descent  of  Man: 

"  I  have  not  had  time  to  read  any  of  it,  so  keep 
it  well  out  of  sight,  not  caring  to  look  just  yet 
at  any  of  the  pages  which  you  think  likely  to 

'  aggravate  '  me You  have  such  a  way  of 

putting  things,  and  you  write  in  such  a  captivat- 
ing way.  One  can  only  say:  '  Almost  thou  per- 
suadest  me  to  have  been  a  hairy  quadruped  of 
arboreal  habits,  furnished  with  a  tail  and  pointed 
ears,'  etc." 

In  1872  he  resigned  his  professorship  at  Har- 
vard, asking  still  to  be  Curator  of  the  Herba- 
rium. This  resignation  left  him  free  for  excur- 
sions, for  writing,  and  for  lecturing  on  outside 
topics,  notably  two  on  Natural  Science  and  Re- 
ligion before  the  Yale  Theological  School  in 
1880;  but  that  same  year  he  was  off  to  Europe, 
and  again  in  1887,  but  always  writing  and  plan- 
ning new  work,  the  results  of  which  may  be  seen 
in  the  complete  list  published  in  the  Letters  of 
Asa  Gray. 

On  the  morning  of  his  75th  birthday  came  a 

wonderful  silver  vase  from  180  of  his  American 

botanical  friends.    On  it  were  represented  many 

of  the  North  American  flora,  and  Gray  had  great 

14 


176     SOME  AMERICAN  MEDICAL  BOTANISTS 

delight  in  recognizing  them.  By  this  year  he 
had  also  many  floral  namesakes,  and  a  mountain 
peak  in  California  called  after  him  by  Dr.  Parry. 
Three  different  genera  were  named  for  him: 
Grayia,  Hook,  and  Arn.,  in  1841,  a  genus  of  the 
Chenopodiaceae,  Asagraea,  Lind.,  in  1839,  and 
Asagraea,  Baill.,  1870.  The  two  latter  are  not 
now  in  good  standing,  having  been  reduced. 

Among  the  species  are:  Notholaena  Grayi, 
Poa  Grayana,  Cyperus  Grayi,  Rhynchospora 
Gray if  Lilium  Grayi,  Oreobroma  Grayi,  Silene 
Grayi,  Anemone  Grayi,  Ranunculus  Grayi,  Saxi- 
fraga  Grayana,  Potentilla  Grayi,  and  many  oth- 
ers. These  are  all  North  American  plants,  but 
others  are  not  limited  to  North  America. 

There  was  scarcely  a  society  of  note  which  did 
not  claim  Gray  as  active  or  honorary  member  or 
give  him  honors.  He  held  the  Edinburgh 
LL.  D.,  the  Oxford  D.  C.  L.,  the  Harvard  M.  A. 
and  LL.  D. 

After  his  return  from  Europe  in  1887,  he 
meant  to  write  some  account  of  the  old  botanists 
he  had  seen  in  his  earliest  visits ;  he  "  also  took 
up  work  on  the  Vitaceae,  for  the  Flora" 

Thanksgiving  Day  came  and  he  went  into  Bos- 
ton to  the  family  dinner,  though  a  slight  cold 
and  fever  troubled  him.  On  Sunday,  though 
poorly,  he  came  downstairs  and  wrote  a  long 
letter  to  Dr.  Britton  concerning  the  naming  of 


ASA  GRAY  177 

Conioselium  Canadense,  but  the  next  morning 
there  was  slight  paralysis  of  the  right  arm  and 
tongue.  He  lingered  patiently,  in  much  weak- 
ness, until  the  3Oth  of  January,  1888,  when  he 
gradually  sank  and  quietly  passed  away.  A  sim- 
ple stone  in  Mount  Auburn  records  his  emigra- 
tion. The  Gray  Herbarium  at  Harvard  guards 
his  best  earthly  treasures,  and  all  men  are  heri- 
tors of  the  knowledge  which  he  garnered  for 
America. 

Letters  of  Asa  Gray. 

American  Acad.  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  Cambridge,  1888. 

Proc.  Royal  Society  of  London,  1889. 

Nat.  Academy  of  Medicine,  Washington,  1895. 

A  Notice  of  Asa  Gray.    W.  Deane.    1888. 


ARTHUR  WELLESLEY  SAXE 

1820-1891 
Rum  ex  Saxei — KELLOGG 

The  first  real  glimpse  of  Saxe  is  as  a  student 
painting  pictures,  chiefly  portraits,  to  pay  his 
fees  at  Castleton  Medical  College,  where  he 
graduated  in  medicine. 

He  was  born  at  Plattsburg,  New  York,  Octo- 
ber 20,  1820,  and  had  only  a  common  school 
education,  though  he  also  took  painting  lessons 
with  a  good  artist. 

In  May,  1850,  he  went  to  California,  and  was 
in  the  mines  until  1852 ;  but  two  years  afterwards 
he  is  heard  of  as  a  resident  doctor  in  Santa  Clara 
County,  California,  where  he  remained  until  his 
death  at  Pasa  Robles,  in  May,  1891. 

That  he  was  president  of  the  State  Medical 
Society  and  of  the  State  Horticultural  Society 
and  owned  "  one  of  the  largest  collections  of 
roses  and  rare  bulbs  in  the  state  "  gives  a  fairly 
good  picture  of  the  man  at  home,  while  accounts 
of  some  botanical  excursions  through  California 
and  to  the  Sandwich  Islands  show  him  to  have 
been  an  energetic  traveller  and  a  real  amateur  in 
the  botanical  world.  He  did  good  work  as  a 
doctor,  was  a  skillful  surgeon,  and  was  reputed  to 

178 


A.  W.   SAXE 


ARTHUR  WELLESLEY  SAXE  179 

be  very  clever  in  the  use  of  obstetric  forceps  and 
difficult  cases  of  catheterization,  two  important 
accomplishments  in  his  day.  His  report  on  lep- 
rosy— the  result  of  study  in  the  Sandwich  Isles — 
was  read  before  the  State  Medical  Society  of 
California  in  1880. 

It  was  in  conjunction  with  Dr.  Kellogg,  who 
at  one  time  had  charge  of  the  California  Acad- 
emy of  Sciences,  at  San  Francisco,  that  he  made 
his  most  extensive  study  of  the  flowers  and  plants 
of  California.  Two  plants  were  named  after 
him:  Rumex  Saxei,  Kellogg,  mentioned  in  the 
Pacific  Rural  Press,  June  7,  1879,  and  Clarkea 
(eucharidim)  Saxeana,  or  Green  Petonia,  in 
1 887.  After  his  death,  a  tree  in  the  park  at  Santa 
Clara  was  called  the  "  Saxe  Tree,"  in  memory  of 
him. 

When  Saxe  went  to  the  Sandwich  Isles,  he 
became  a  warm  friend  of  the  late  King  Kalakau 
and  was  always  his  guest  at  court.  On  one  of 
his  visits  he  painted  a  clever  picture  of  the  burn- 
ing crater  of  Mauna  Loa,  doing  most  of  the  work 
at  midnight,  at  which  time  the  flaming  crater 
presented  the  finest  appearance. 

Much  of  his  work  was  destroyed  in  the  San 
Francisco  fire;  but  his  brother,  Dr.  Frederick 
Saxe,  of  Oakland,  California,  has  a  small  book 
of  water-color  sketches  of  flowers  and  plants 
made  at  odd  moments. 

Personal  communication  from  Dr.  Frederick  Saxe. 


CHARLES  CHRISTOPHER  PARRY 

1823-1890 
Lilium  Parryi — WATSON 

In  the  year  1823  one  of  the  many  English- 
born  American  botanists  came — a  little  lad  of 
ten — from  Gloucester,  England,  to  Washington 
County,  New  York.  "  Here,"  says  his  biogra- 
pher, Dr.  C.  H.  Preston,  "  his  boyhood  was 
passed  " — how  passed,  and  when  his  taste  for 
botany  developed,  we  want  to  know  but  are  not 
told.  He  entered  Union  College,  at  Schenec- 
tady,  and  graduated  with  honors,  beginning  the 
study  of  medical  botany  in  his  undergraduate 
years,  and  subsequently  receiving  his  medical 
degree  from  Columbia  College. 

Coming  west  to  Davenport  in  the  fall  of  1846, 
he  began  practice,  but  soon  discovered  that  his 
natural  tastes  ranged  far  from  disease  and  drew 
him  to  the  treasures  of  wood  and  field. 

Thenceforward  his  life  story  is  interwoven 
with  that  of  three  of  his  spiritual  kindred,  Tor- 
rey,  Gray  and  George  Engelmann,  and  presents, 
apart  from  the  scientific  side,  a  wonderful  record 
of  travel  and  toil. 

In  the  summer  of  1847,  he  accompanied  a 
United  States  surveying  party,  under  Lieut.  J. 

180 


CHARLES    CHRISTOPHER    PARRY 

(From  a  picture  at  the  Davenport  Academy  of  Science,  Iowa) 


CHARLES  CHRISTOPHER  PARRY  l8l 

Morehead,  on  an  excursion  into  Central  Iowa, 
in  the  vicinity  of  the  present  state  capital.  From 
this  time  on  (except  for  a  short  period  while 
connected  with  the  Mexican  Boundary  Survey, 
discharging  the  duties  of  assistant  surgeon),  the 
physician  was  merged  in  the  naturalist.  He  was 
almost  continuously  in  the  field,  collecting;  but 
Davenport,  Iowa,  remained  his  nominal  home. 
Here,  in  1853,  he  married  Sarah  M.  Dalzell,  who 
died  five  years  later  and  left  him  with  an  only 
child — a  daughter,  who  died  at  an  early  age. 

In  1859  he  married  Mrs.  E.  R.  Preston,  of 
Westford,  Connecticut,  who  for  more  than  thirty 
years  shared  his  work. 

In  the  Proceedings  of  the  Davenport  Academy 
of  Science,  vol.  ii,  Parry  gives  a  chronological 
account  of  his  work  up  to  1878.  The  greater 
part  of  his  time  was  spent  in  observing  and  col- 
lecting along  the  St.  Peters  and  up  the  St.  Croix, 
to  Monterey,  in  the  mountains  of  Colorado  and 
California,  as  he  was  interested  in  a  special  study 
of  the  Alpine  flora  of  North  America.  Then 
this  energetic  man  set  out  with  a  Pacific  Railroad 
Survey  through  New  Mexico,  ending  in  Mexico 
about  San  Luis  Potosi  and  Monterey.  Time  was 
required  to  sort  the  spoils  of  years,  so  the  winter 
of  1852  was  spent  in  Washington,  preparing  his 
Report  as  Botanist  to  the  Mexican  Boundary 
Survey.  It  took  three  years,  when  he  was  offki- 


1 82      SOME  AMERICAN   MEDICAL  BOTANISTS 

ally  employed  by  the  United  States  Agricultural 
Department  to  arrange  the  specimens  sent  in  by 
governmental  explorations  which  had  accumu- 
lated at  the  Smithsonian.  This  period  included 
a  visit  to  Kew,  England,  and  marked  the  begin- 
ning of  a  lasting  friendship  with  Sir  Joseph 
Hooker.  He  doubtless  visited  his  birthplace  in 
Gloucester  and  realized  the  vastness  of  the  Amer- 
ican wilderness  and  the  grandeur  of  the  Cali- 
fornian  mountains,  as  contrasted  with  the  small- 
ness,  but  the  quiet  beauty,  of  his  own  Malvern 
Hills. 

His  pleasantest  trip  might  well  have  been  that 
in  1880,  when,  as  special  agent  of  the  United 
States  Forestry  Department,  he  went  with  George 
Engelmann  and  Professor  Sargent  on  an  expedi- 
tion to  the  valley  of  the  Columbia  and  the  far 
Northwest.  Wintering  in  California,  he  spent 
the  following  year  in  that  state,  making  numerous 
collecting  excursions  north  and  south,  including 
a  trip  to  the  Yosemite  in  June. 

Various  other  trips  followed,  interspersed  with 
much  cataloguing  and  writing;  but  in  1884  he 
visited  England  and  Kew  again,  as  well  as  his 
botanical  friends  on  the  Continent. 

"The  summer  of  1886  he  spent  partly  with 
friends  in  Wisconsin,  partly  in  the  quiet  enjoy- 
ment of  his  Iowa  home.  But  even  when  resting, 
his  mind  did  not  rest — his  wonderfully  volumi- 
nous correspondence  went  on,  and  the  microscope 


CHARLES  CHRISTOPHER  PARRY  183 

filled  in  his  otherwise  leisure  hours.  Again  the 
winter  was  passed  in  San  Francisco,  from  which 
city  he  made  numerous  collecting  trips  as  before. 
Remaining  in  California,  chiefly  in  the  vicinity 
of  San  Francisco,  until  September,  1888,  he  was 
busily  employed  making  special  collections  of 
Arctostaphylos  and  Ceanothus  and  in  the  study 
of  these  and  the  genus  Alnus.  His  last  visit  to 
California  was  made  in  the  spring  of  1889. 
Returning  to  Davenport  in  July,  he  made  a  trip 
to  Canada  and  New  England,  visited  New  York 
and  Philadelphia,  and  returned  to  his  home  but 
a  few  weeks  before  his  death,  at  Davenport,  on 
the  aoth  of  February,  1890."  (Dr.  C.  H.  Pres- 
ton.) 

Parry  discovered,  during  his  extensive  explor- 
ations, hundreds  of  new  plants  afterwards  de- 
scribed by  Dr.  Gray  and  by  Dr.  Engelmann,  and 
his  name  is  firmly  fixed  in  the  history  of  West 
American  botany.  Horticulturists  will  not  soon 
forget  that  it  was  Dr.  Parry  who  discovered 
Picea  pungens,  the  beautiful  blue  spruce  of  our 
gardens,  Pinus  Engelmanni,  Pinus  Torreyana, 
Pinus  Parryana,  Pinus  aristata,  and  a  host  of 
others  of  beauty  and  value.  Through  his  zeal 
and  enterprise,  many  plants  now  familiar  to 
American  and  European  gardens  were  first  cul- 
tivated. Zizyphus  Parryi,  Phacelia  Parryi,  Fra- 
sera  Parryi,  Lilium  Parryi,  and  many  other 
plants  of  beauty  or  utility  bear  his  name,  in 


184      SOME  AMERICAN   MEDICAL  BOTANISTS 

commemoration  of  his  labors,  and  worthily  do 
him  honor. 

In  the  vicinity  of  San  Diego,  in  1 882,"  he  redis- 
covered the  little  fern  Ophiglossum  nudicaule, 
which  he  had  first  found  in  1850,  and  which  had 
ever  since  remained  unseen.  In  the  neighbor- 
hood of  Todos  Santos,  or  All  Saints  Bay,  were 
discovered  the  new  Ribes  viburnifolium,  Parry's 
Mexican  rose  (Rosa  minutifolia,  Engelmann), 
and  a  dwarf  horse-chestnut  (Aesculus  Parryi) , 
among  other  new  plants  " ;  also,  later,  in  the  same 
region,  "  the  new  spice  bush  (Ptelea  aptera, 
Parry)." 

In  the  Proceedings  of  the  Davenport  Academy 
of  Natural  Sciences,  vol.  ii,  pp.  188,  189,  Dr. 
Parry  tells  of  finding  (July,  1876)  an  unde- 
scribed  variety  of  lily  growing  abundantly  on  the 
ranch  of  the  Ring  brothers,  near  San  Gorgonio 
Pass,  in  the  vicinity  of  San  Bernardino,  Southern 
California.  He  says :  "  The  specimens  then  col- 
lected, together  with  later  material,  obligingly 
furnished  by  Mr.  Ring,  have  supplied  the  neces- 
sary means  for  the  complete  description,  and  the 
whole  having  been  placed  at  the  disposal  of  Mr. 
Sereno  Watson,  who  is  now  elaborating  the  en- 
dogenous flora  of  California,  he  has  determined 
the  same  as  an  undescribed  species,  which  he  has 
complimented  the  discoverer  by  naming  Lilium 
Parryi,  Watson.  At  my  request  Mr.  Watson  has 


CHARLES  CHRISTOPHER  PARRY  185 

kindly  furnished  the  following  characterized 
description: 

"  'Lilium  Parryi  Watson,  Bot.  Calif.  Ined. : 
Bulb  somewhat  rhizomatous,  of  numerous 
crowded  scales,  fleshy  and  jointed,  about  an  inch 
long,  the  upper  joint  broadly  lanceolate;  stem 
slender,  glabrous,  two  to  five  feet  high,  2-10 
flowered;  leaves  usually  scattered,  occasionally 
the  lower  ones  in  a  whorl,  linear,  oblanceolate, 
four  to  six  inches  long,  and  half  an  inch  wide 
or  less,  mostly  acuminate;  flowers  horizontal, 
pale  yellow,  sparingly  and  minutely  dotted  with 
purple;  segments  three  and  one-half  inches  long, 
and  five  or  six  inches  wide,  with  long,  narrow 
claws,  slightly  spreading,  from  the  base;  stamens 
and  style  a  half-inch  shorter,  equal;  anthers 
oblong,  brownish,  three  lines  long,  capsules  nar- 
rowly oblong,  acutish,  two  inches  long  by  half 
an  inch  in  breadth. 

"  '  Of  the  section  Enlirion,  to  which  also  be- 
longs the  California  L.  Washingtonianum.  It  is 
distinguished  from  the  latter  especially  by  its 
small  bulbs,  with  jointed  scales,  its  more  scattered 
and  narrower  leaves,  its  smaller  yellow  flowers, 
with  less  spreading  segments,  and  its  longer,  nar- 
rower and  acuter  capsules.' ' 

His  name  is  borne  by  a  peak  of  the  Snowy 
Range,  Colorado,  bestowed  by  Surveyor-General 
F.  M.  Chase. 


1 86      SOME  AMERICAN   MEDICAL  BOTANISTS 

Though  his  writings — some  140  papers — if 
collected,  would  form  a  respectable  two  vol- 
umes, they  are  scattered  throughout  government 
reports  and  society  transactions,  a  great  many 
appearing  in  the  Proceedings  of  the  Davenport 
Academy  of  Natural  Sciences,  vols.  i-v;  the 
Transactions  of  the  St.  Louis  Academy  of  Sci- 
ence, vol.  ii ;  and  the  American  Naturalist,  vols. 
vi  and  viii. 

Not  only  did  he  give  freely  to  societies  and 
friends,  but  he  made  for  himself  one  of  the  finest 
herbaria  in  the  country,  a  collection  including 
over  18,000  determined  specimens,  representing 
nearly  6,800  species,  together  with  some  1,400 
specimens  determined  only  as  far  as  the  genus. 
To  bring  the  Mexican  rose  into  cultivation,  he 
made  an  extra  trip  into  Lower  California;  he 
took  much  trouble  to  introduce  the  Spiraea  caes- 
pitosa,  or  tree  moss,  found  in  the  Wasatch  Moun- 
tains. 

"  His  notes  and  journals,"  says  Dr.  C.  H.  Pres- 
ton, "  contain  little  save  that  which  is  relative 
to  his  work — no  mention  of  his  travelling  com- 
panions, nor  of  any  of  the  unique  and  interesting 
specimens  of  Western  humanity  with  whom  he 
came  in  contact;  yet  he  was  deeply  affectionate 
and  particularly  fond  of  little  children." 

Biography.    Dr.  C.  H.  Preston. 


ELLIOT  C.  HOWE 
(From    a    photograph    taken    about    1865) 


ELLIOT  C.  HOWE 

1828-1899 
Stropharia  Howeana — PECK 

Some  of  our  medical  botanists  have  left  only 
mycological  remembrances  suggestive  of  brief 
life  and  constant  renewal.  Standing  out  in  strong 
contrast  to  the  grand,  enduring  Pinus  Engel- 
manni  or  the  Abies  Douglassi — rocking  storm- 
defying  and  rising  some  hundred  feet  in  the  air — 
are  two  fungi,  Stropharia  Howeana  and  Hypoxy- 
lon  Howeanum,  which  recall  the  work  of  Elliot 
C.  Howe,  the  mycologist,  who  was  born  on  Feb- 
ruary 14,  1828,  in  Jamaica,  Vermont,  was  edu- 
cated at  Lansingburg  Academy,  and  was  de- 
voted, even  as  a  schoolboy,  to  fossils,  animals, 
plants,  music  and  chemistry.  Biographers  often 
label  these  young  inclinings  as  "  a  love  of  geology, 
etc.,"  but  most  boys  begin  some  natural  history 
collection,  and  "  a  taste  for  chemistry "  often 
means  a  six-months  craze  for  inflicting  obnox- 
ious smells  and  more  enduring  stains  on  the 
furniture  and  carpets  of  a  long-suffering  family. 
However,  young  Howe's  early  tendencies  became 
confirmed  tastes.  He  also  studied  physiology 
and  medicine  in  New  York  City,  eking  out  his 

187 


1 88      SOME  AMERICAN  MEDICAL  BOTANISTS 

income  by  writing  articles  and  reporting  for  The 
New  York  Tribune.  When  he  had  his  medical 
degree  he  went  to  Troy  to  practise,  "  giving  such 
attention  as  he  could  to  music,  physiology  and 
botany." 

The  harmonies  of  nature  apparently  attracted 
him  more  than  disease,  for  he  became  teacher  of 
these  three  sciences  in  Charlotteville  Seminary. 
There  was  a  large  swamp  near  the  school,  and  in 
it  Howe  found  the  beautiful  American  Jacob's 
Ladder,  Polemonium  Van  Bruntiae,  Britton,  this 
was  the  first-known  New  York  locality  for  a  plant 
then  thought  to  be  the  same  as  the  European 
Polemonium  coeruleum,  Linnaeus. 

The  Charlotteville  Seminary  being  accident- 
ally destroyed  by  fire,  Howe  took  the  same  pro- 
fessorships in  Fort  Edward  Institute,  where  he 
"  vigorously  studied  mycology  "  and,  incident- 
ally, the  charms  of  a  fellow-teacher,  Emily  Z. 
Sloan,  who  became  an  "  Howeana  "  and  blos- 
somed thenceforth  beside  him. 

After  thirteen  years  of  active  medical  work  in 
Yonkers,  New  York,  he  went  to  Lansingburg 
and  found  sufficient  employment  in  botanical 
excursions,  and  in  studying  local  flora.  He  be- 
came a  member  of  The  Torrey  Botanical  Club, 
and  got  in  touch  with  fellow- workers  by  letter 
and  exchange  of  specimens.  In  1894  he  pub- 
lished, with  Dr.  H.  C.  Gordinier,  The  Flora 


CAREX  SEORSA 
(E.  C.  Howe) 


ELLIOT  C.HOWE  189 

of  Rensselaer  County,  a  Record  of  the  Phaeno- 
gams  and  Vascular  Cryptogams,  recording  1,345 
species  and  varieties.  He  also  wrote  the  descrip- 
tive article  on  the  New  York  species  of  Carex 
(48th  State  Museum  Report),  describing  a  new 
species,  Carex  Seorsa,  and  two  new  varieties,  C. 
lenticularis  merens,  Howe  and  C.  Emmonsii  dis- 
tincta,  Howe. 

He  claimed  the  hybrid  character  of  Carex 
Sulllvantii,  Boott  (Botan.  Gaz.,  February,  1881 ) , 
now  generally  admitted. 

In  1892,  seven  years  before  his  death,  he  lost 
the  use  of  his  limbs  and  became  a  helpless,  but 
cheery,  invalid,  his  wife  and  sons  and  daughters 
all  helping  by  bringing  plants  and  making  his 
herbarium.  Music,  too,  whiled  away  many  a 
long  hour,  and  a  past  generation  will  remember 
one  of  his  songs.  The  Old  Arm  Chair,  which 
London  took  up  and  sang  with  America;  while 
the  musicians  of  both  armies  during  the  Civil 
War  enjoyed  The  Wanderer's  Dream.  This  mu- 
sical mycologist,  after  seven  years  of  physical  im- 
prisonment, was  liberated  into  the  larger  life  on 
the  ad  of  March,  1899. 

Bull,  of  the  Torrey  Botanical  Club,  May,  1899.    Charles  H.  Peck. 


WILLIAM  HERBST 

1833-1907 
Sparassis  Herbstii — PECK 

The  first  human  glimpse  of  William  Herbst 
amongst  the  scanty  biographical  details  obtain- 
able is  as  a  boy  riding  with  his  father,  Dr.  Fred- 
erick W.  Herbst,  to  visit  patients  and  beguiling 
the  time  by  gathering  and  studying  flowers  in  the 
fields  during  the  long  waiting  at  sick  men's  doors. 
The  father  had  come  over  from  Saxony  in  1825, 
and  William  was  born  in  Reading,  Bucks  County, 
Pennsylvania,  on  September  24,  1833.  His  only 
text-book  was  an  old  German  one,  but  "  he  was 
fascinated  with  the  fanciful  names  given  to  the 
specimens "  and  after  a  while  got  a  botanical 
work  by  Mrs.  Lincoln.  He  went  to  two  or  three 
academies  and  finally  to  one  in  East  Hampton, 
Massachusetts,  where  he  studied  botany  under 
Dr.  Edward  Hitchcock  and  began  to  form  an 
herbarium,  which  he  continued  while  studying 
medicine  with  his  father  before  he  went  to  Jeffer- 
son Medical  College,  Philadelphia,  where  he 
took  his  M.  D.  (1855). 

Finally  he  settled  down  to  practise  in  the 
(then)  small  village  of  Trexlertown,  Lehigh 

190 


WILLIAM   HERBST  191 

County,  Pennsylvania,  and  gave  all  his  spare 
time  to  studying  the  flora  of  the  state,  in  later 
years  specializing  in  fungi,  especially  the  Basidi- 
omycetes.  His  biographer  says,  "  for  a  number 
of  years  he  occupied  the  chair  of  botany  at  Muhl- 
enberg  College,  Pennsylvania,"  but  we  would 
also  fain  know  how  he  fared  and  did  when  not 
in  the  chair,  of  some  of  his  pleasures  in  finding 
new  plants,  and  of  his  friendship  with  Prof.  C. 
H.  Peck,  the  botanist,  who  on  August  25,  1894, 
writes  to  him :  "  That  was  a  splendid  fungus  you 
sent  me.  It  is  an  undescribed  species  of  Spa- 
rassis.  I  propose  to  name  it,  with  your  consent, 

Sparassis  Herbstii,  sp.  nov Thanks  for 

your  kind  offer  to  send  me  some  more  specimens 
of  Queletia  mirabilis,  Fr.  So  far  you  are  the 
only  one  to  find  it  in  this  country." 

Herbst  found  time  to  write  a  tolerably  large 
illustrated  volume  (229  pp.)  on  thz  Fungal  Flora 
of  the  Lehlgh  Valley,  Pennsylvania,  1899,  and 
when  he  died,  in  December,  1907,  his  widow 
gave  all  his  specimens  to  the  Academy  of  Natural 
Sciences  of  Philadelphia. 

Personal  Communication  from  Caroline  Herbst. 
The  Botanists  of  Philadelphia.    J.  W.  Harshberger. 


GEORGE  EDWARD  POST 

1838-1909 
Postia  Lanuginosa — BOISSIER  AND  BLANCHE 

Post  lived  his  long  life  as  a  medical  missionary 
in  far-off  Syria,  becoming  equally  well-known 
for  his  surgical  and  for  his  botanical  work.  Born 
in  New  York  City,  December  17,  1838,  he  was 
the  son  of  Dr.  Alfred  and  Harriet  Beers  Post. 
He  graduated  from  the  old  New  York  Free 
Academy,  now  the  College  of  the  City  of  New 
York,  in  1854,  taking  his  master's  degree  three 
years  later.  Encouraged  by  a  botanist  friend,  he 
became  an  eager  collector  of  plants  and  prepared 
a  Flora  of  the  region  round  New  York,  which  he 
presented  as  his  graduation  thesis.  He  then 
entered  the  medical  department  of  the  University 
of  New  York,  from  which  he  graduated  in  1860. 
One  year  afterwards  he  entered  the  Union  The- 
ological Seminary. 

Dr.  Post  was  elected  in  1868  to  the  professor- 
ship of  surgery  in  the  Syrian  Protestant  Hospital 
at  Beirut,  which  is  maintained  by  the  Presby- 
terian Board  of  Foreign  Missions,  and  this  he 
held  until  his  death.  He  was  also  surgeon  to  the 
Johanniret  Hospital,  in  Beirut. 

192 


GEORGE  EDWARD  POST 
(Elliott  &  Fry,  photographers) 


GEORGE  EDWARD  POST  193 

The  Protestant  Hospital  was  then  a  small, 
struggling  institute  with  few  students.  Dr.  Post 
lived  to  see  it  with  an  enrollment  of  eight  hun- 
dred, representing  some  twelve  or  fourteen 
nationalities. 

He  had  no  light  task;  for  class  room,  the  hos- 
pital, private  practice  and  missionary  as  well  as 
scientific  duties  all  clamored  for  him.  The  teach- 
ing was  in  Arabic,  which  Post  had  mastered 
when  in  Tripoli,  before  going  to  Beirut.  Of  the 
preparation  of  text-books  in  Arabic  he  had  also 
to  bear  a  large  share.  One  was  on  Structural  and 
Systematic  Botany,  and  a  Flora  of  Syria,  Pales- 
tine, Sinai  and  Egypt 1  (not  to  be  confused  with 
his  much  larger  and  more  complete  Flora,  in 
English,  published  many  years  later).  From 
the  time  he  landed  in  Syria  he  began  collecting 
the  plants  of  the  country,  and  this  herbarium, 
which  steadily  grew  in  size  and  value  until,  at 
his  death,  it  numbered  over  15,000  species,  was 
his  pride  and  joy  and  the  foundation  for  all  his 
subsequent  work  in  botany.  One  of  the  last 
botanical  tasks  that  he  undertook  was  the  careful 

1 "  Post's  Flora  of  Syria,  Palestine,  and  Sinai  has  no  date  on  the  title- 
page.  It  was  printed  on  the  Mission  Press  in  Beirut,  and  consumed 
about  fourteen  years  (1883-1896)  in  the  printing;  but  I  can  find  no 
evidence  that  it  was  issued  in  parts.  The  entire  work  seems  to  have 
first  come  into  the  hands  of  the  public  in  1896.  Perhaps  there  may  be  a 
later  edition,  but  as  far  as  I  know  this  was  the  only  one."  (J.  H. 
Barnhart.) 


194      SOME  AMERICAN  MEDICAL  BOTANISTS 

going  over  and  rearrangement  of  this  herbarium 
in  the  George  E.  Post  Science  Hall  of  the  Syrian 
Protestant  College. 

It  was  his  habit  to  throw  the  whole  of  his  tre- 
mendous energy,  enthusiasm  and  perseverance 
into  anything  that  he  undertook,  carrying  it 
through  to  a  finish,  to  the  very  best  of  his  ability. 
He  never  idled  away  his  spare  hours,  and  devel- 
oped the  power  of  concentration  to  a  remarkable 
degree — the  greater,  perhaps,  because  increasing 
deafness  shut  out  ordinary  sounds.  He  was  able 
to  take  up  any  task  to  which  he  set  his  mind,  at 
a  brief  notice,  and  to  become  at  once  absorbed 
in  it.  When  weary  with  labor,  in  spite  of  his 
heavy  responsibilities,  he  could  drop  off  to  sleep 
like  a  little  child.  He  was  accustomed  to  get  up 
at  sunrise  or  before,  and  his  daily  round  of  pro- 
fessional duties  often  made  it  a  wonder  to  me 
how  he  found  time  and  strength  to  pursue  botany. 
But  to  him  it  was  a  first  love,  which  with  advanc- 
ing years  never  lost  its  charm.  During  the  busy 
time  of  the  year  he  would  seek  the  seclusion  of 
his  herbarium  for  such  time  as  could  be  spared 
from  his  other  tasks.  But  it  was  chiefly  during 
the  long  summer  days,  in  the  sweltering  heat  of 
the  plains,  while  others  were  enjoying  the  cool  of 
the  mountains,  that  he  would  spend  hours  at  a 
time  in  his  beloved  herbarium,  working  over  his 
collections  and  his  Flora. 


GEORGE  EDWARD  POST  195 

Of  nervous  temperament,  yet  possessing  a  con- 
stitution of  iron,  light  in  build,  of  medium 
height,  wiry,  very  active,  and  a  fine  horseman, 
and  with  a  keen,  trained  eye  that  no  plant  could 
elude,  he  would  travel,  on  his  botanical  excur- 
sions, from  early  morning  till  daylight  failed, 
scouring  mountain,  hill  and  dale,  sandy  coast  and 
desert,  collecting  plants.  Oftentimes  he  would 
lean  from  the  saddle,  with  an  arm  about  his 
horse's  neck,  and  get  specimens  without  stopping 
to  dismount.  It  was  his  habit  to  collect  many  of 
each  species  of  plants,  the  duplicates  serving  for 
exchange  with  his  botanical  correspondents, 
among  whom  were  Baker  of  Kew,  Boissier, 
Bornmuller  and  others. 

On  his  botanical  trips,  taken  during  holiday 
time,  his  method  of  collecting  was  to  carry  a 
large  number  of  heavy  cartridge-paper  driers  in 
Syrian-made,  woven-wool  saddle-bags.  Hand- 
fuls  of  specimens  were  introduced  en  masse  be- 
tween the  driers  until  a  considerable  quantity 
had  thus  been  collected.  Then,  when  for  any 
reason  a  halt  was  called,  he  would  spring  from 
his  horse,  and  with  speed  attained  by  long  prac- 
tice, arrange  his  plants  in  their  final  form 
between  the  driers,  which  were  firmly  tied  into 
packages  of  suitable  thickness,  and  placed  in  the 
saddle-bags  of  his  travelling  companions,  fresh 
sheets  being  taken  from  them  and  placed  in  his 


196     SOME  AMERICAN  MEDICAL  BOTANISTS 

own  saddle-bags  for  further  specimens.    At  the 
close  of  a  heavy  day's  collecting,  the  numerous 
packages  had  only  to  be  strapped  into  the  plant- 
presses,  to  be  loaded  upon  the  pack  animals  in 
the  morning.  Travelling  all  day  in  the  hot  Syrian 
sun,  and  exposed  to  the  wind,  the  plants  would 
often  dry  without  requiring  transfer.    Leaving 
the  muleteers  with  their  pack-animals  to  accom- 
plish the  stage  determined  upon  by  the  easiest 
route,  he  would  sometimes  strike  off  into  the 
mountains  or  the  wilds,  covering  two  or  three 
times  the  distance  traversed  by  the  caravan,  and 
arriving  at  camp  at  close  of  day  laden  with 
spoils.     The  muleteers  did  not  always  receive 
with  enthusiasm  their  rapidly  increasing  loads. 
Syrian  custom-house  officials,  having  no  knowl- 
edge of  herbaria,  often  looked  askance  at  these 
huge  collections  and  wished  to  confiscate  them. 
But  with  his  perfect  knowledge  of  the  Arabic 
language  and  ways  of  thinking,  and  with  an 
innate  power  of  persuasion,  he  always  succeeded 
in  getting  his  collections  safely  through.     No 
plant,  however  spiny  and  unwieldy,  discouraged 
him;  many  of  his  discoveries  were  among  plants 
of  this  description,  in  which  the  Syrian  flora 
abounds.    Huge  heads  of  spiny  Onopordon  with 
forbidding  leaves ;  formidably  armed  species  of 
Astragalus  and  Acantholimon;  cones  of  pine, 
cedar  and  fir;  towering  huge-leaved  mulleins, 


GEORGE  EDWARD  POST  197 

giant  umbellifers  with  large,  delicate  and  intri- 
cately cut  leaves — all  furnished  their  toll  to  his 
omnivorous  plant-presses.  In  his  Flora  he  de- 
scribes no  less  than  fifteen  species  of  mullein,  and 
eight  of  Astragalus,  new  to  science. 

Once,  in  the  spring  of  1890,  he  made  a  botan- 
ical trip  to  Palmyra.  Growing  on  the  rocky 
crags  of  Jebel  Bilas,  in  the  Syrian  Desert,  he 
found  the  basal  leaves  of  two  large  umbelliferous 
plants  which  he  had  never  seen  before.  These 
leaves  he  carefully  collected,  as  they  were  the 
only  part  of  the  plants  developed.  From  his 
knowledge  of  the  Umbelliferae  he  was  able  not 
merely  to  recognize  the  genus  to  which  the  plants 
belonged,  but  to  construct  a  detailed  description 
of  the  probable  appearance  of  the  mature  plants. 
On  a  second  trip  to  Palmyra,  in  the  summer,  he 
found  and  collected  mature  specimens  closely 
corresponding  to  the  descriptions  he  had  con- 
structed, and  which  proved  to  be  two  species  new 
to  science,  named  by  him  Ferula  Bilasi  and  Fe- 
rula Barbeyi. 

Collecting  was  but  a  part  of  the  labor.  All 
the  specimens  were  studied  and  arranged  by  him- 
self, the  list  of  plants  collected  on  each  journey, 
with  habitat  and  date  of  each  species,  together 
with  a  full  description  in  Latin  of  the  species 
and  varieties  new  to  science,  being  published  in 
a  series  of  ten  monographs  entitled  Plantae  Pos- 


198      SOME  AMERICAN   MEDICAL  BOTANISTS 

tianae,  five  of  which  appeared  first  in  the  Bul- 
letin de  I' Her  bier  Boissier  and  one  in  Memoir es 
de  lfHerbier  Boissier.  Previous  to  the  publica- 
tion of  these,  some  of  his  descriptions  of  new 
species  appeared  in  The  Journal  of  the  Linnaean 
Society,  vol.  xxiv  (1888).  He  himself  was  a 
member  of  The  London  Linnaean  Society,  of  the 
Botanical  Society  of  Edinburgh,  and  of  The 
Torrey  Botanical  Club  of  New  York.  The 
enumeration  of  species  collected  was  in  part 
made  in  collaboration  with  M.  Eugene  Autran, 
Curator  of  the  Boissier  Herbarium  of  Geneva, 
but  he  named  and  described  his  own  new  species 
and  varieties.  All  told,  these  numbered  over  120 
new  species  and  nearly  300  new  varieties  of  plants 
in  his  Flora  of  Syria,  Palestine  and  Sinai.  Reck- 
oning the  total  number  of  species  described  in 
this  Flora  as  3,500,  he  was  the  first  to  determine, 
name,  and  describe  more  than  one-thirtieth. 

Familiarity  with  the  geography  and  physical 
characteristics  of  Syria  and  Palestine  was  shown 
by  a  paper  on  The  Botanical  Geography  of  Syria 
and  Palestine,  read  before  the  Victoria  Institute, 
and  published  with  a  map  in  the  Proceedings  of 
the  Victoria  Institute.  In  this  paper  he  maps  out 
Syria  and  Palestine  into  ten  distinct  botanical 
regions,  the  characteristics  and  flora  of  each  of 
which  he  sets  forth. 

In  the  spring  of  1882  he  made  a  trip  to  Sinai 
in  company  with  Dr.  Henry  M.  Field,  which  is 


GEORGE  EDWARD  POST  199 

graphically  described  by  the  latter  in  his  book 
On  the  Desert.  During  the  month's  journey, 
about  350  species  were  collected,  mostly  unknown 
in  Syria.  While  on  the  desert,  homeward  bound, 
he  was  taken  very  ill  with  high  fever;  but  he 
decided  to  press  on.  "  He  rose  heavily  and 
wearily,"  writes  Dr.  Field,  "  and  bracing  him- 
self with  a  strong  dose  of  quinine,  mounted  his 
camel.  As  soon  as  he  was  in  the  saddle,  his  spirits 
began  to  rise.  The  fresh  air  and  the  motion  gave 
him  new  life.  But  what  relieved  my  fears  was 
to  see  his  old  passion  for  flowers  kindle  at  the 
sight  of  some  new  specimens  which  he  could 
gather  for  his  collection  of  the  flora  of  the  desert. 
He  could  not  resist  the  attraction  of  a  new  plant, 
and  I  verily  believe,  if  he  had  been  in  articulo 
mortis,  that  the  sight  of  a  new  flower  brought  to 
his  bedside  would  have  caused  a  smile  of  satis- 
faction to  spread  over  his  dying  features 

When  he  first  came  upon  the  squill  plant,  he 
could  not  restrain  his  excitement.  '  That  plant/ 
he  said,  *  is  never  found  except  near  the  sea,  or 
at  least  within  the  reach  of  the  salt  air.  We  are 
approaching  the  Mediterranean.  It  may  be  yet 
fifty  or  sixty  miles  off,  but  we  are  getting  near 
it.'  How  delightful  is  this  enthusiasm  of  the  man 
of  science,  which  can  make  him  forget  illness 
and  the  fatigues  of  the  desert!  " 

A  botanical  journey  was  made  with  his  son 
Bertram  through  Eastern  Turkey,  from  Mersine 

16 


200      SOME  AMERICAN   MEDICAL  BOTANISTS 

to  Mount  Ararat,  in  the  summer  of  1906,  and 
the  collection  made  was  large  and  valuable.  Dr. 
Post  was  working  upon  these  plants  as  he  had 
opportunity,  when  death  snapped  off  the  sweet 
bloom  of  life.  A  number  of  new  species  were 
discovered  on  this  trip,  but  their  description  is 
still  unpublished.  One  of  the  plants  collected 
was  a  pretty  species  of  Postia.  Many  years  ago, 
a  new  genus  of  Compositae  was  named  Postia 
for  him  by  Boissier  and  Blanche.  The  following 
species  of  Syrian  plants  were  also  named  for  him 
by  fellow-botanists:  Cousinia  Postiana,  Wink- 
ler;  Centaur ea  Postii,  Boissier;  Tracheliopsis 
Postii,  Boissier ;  Ajuga  Postii,  Briquet. 

On  one  of  the  high  mountains  above  the  Cedars 
of  Lebanon,  he  discovered  two  specimens  of  a 
new  genus,  one  of  which  was  submitted  to  Wink- 
ler  and  Barbey  for  determination.  This  they 
named  Autrania  pulchella,  its  description  being 
given  by  them  in  Plantae  Postianae,  fasciculus 
iii,  following  which  are  these  words :  "  Habitat 
in  Syriae  monte  Rijal-el-Asherah  altitudine 
8500',  ubi  cl.  Post  Julio  mense  anni  1891  generis 
novi  exemplaria  duo  detexit,  quorum  unum  illus- 
trissimus  Post  sub  No.  136  liberalissime  herbario 
horti  Petropolitani  communicavit." 

The  Flora  of  Syria,  Palestine  and  Sinai,  in 
English,  was  his  magnum  opus  in  Botany.  The 
volume  of  91 1  pages  represents  the  labor  of  over 
thirty  years,  although  for  many  years  he  was  only 


POSTIA    LANUGINOSA 


GEORGE  EDWARD  POST  2OI 

collecting  and  studying  the  flora,  with  no  idea 
of  undertaking  the  Herculean  task  that  was 
finally  accomplished  in  the  face  of  such  obstacles. 
He  himself  drew  most  of  the  illustrations,  and 
superintended  the  execution  of  the  woodcuts.  In 
the  Introduction  he  remarks:  "  The  very  large 
number  of  species  found  in  a  country  so  limited 
is  to  be  accounted  for  by  its  microcosmic  char- 
acter ....  the  district  covered  by  our  work 
contains  126  Orders  of  phaenogams  and  aero- 
gens,  850  genera,  and  about  3,500  species.  The 
significance  of  these  figures  will  appear  if  we 
recall  that  our  region  is  only  about  as  large  as 
England,  or  as  the  State  of  New  York."  The 
number  of  species  described  in  this  Flora — and 
there  are  doubtless  others  awaiting  discovery — 
is  nearly  three  times  as  great  as  that  contained 
in  Bentham's  Illustrated  Handbook  of  the  Brit- 
ish Flora. 

Being  an  authority  on  the  botany  of  the  Holy 
Land,  he  was  in  constant  demand  for  articles  on 
kindred  topics  for  various  Bible  Dictionaries  and 
for  religious  and  scientific  periodicals. 

He  studied  the  plant  and  animal  life  about  him 
to  such  advantage  as  to  gain  membership  in 
European  societies  and  to  give  the  college  text- 
books in  Arabic  on  the  botany,  mammals  and 
birds  of  Persia,  besides  treatises  on  Surgery  and 
Materia  Medica.  For  his  work  in  the  missionary 
and  medical  fields,  he  received  the  decoration 


202      SOME  AMERICAN  MEDICAL  BOTANISTS 

of  Othnanieyh  of  Turkey,  of  the  Ducal  House 
of  Saxony,  and  of  the  Red  Eagle  and  Knights  of 
Jerusalem  of  Germany. 

He  married  Sarah  Reed,  of  Georgetown,  Dis- 
trict of  Columbia,  and  three  children  survive 
him.  Of  his  sons,  Bertram  Van  Dyck  became  a 
professor  of  biology  in  Robert  College  at  Con- 
stantinople, and  Wilfred  N.,  surgeon  at  the 
American  Hospital,  Caesarea. 

He  gave  much  time,  during  the  last  few  years 
of  his  life,  to  starting  a  Museum  of  Economic 
Botany,  which  now  forms  an  interesting  and  val- 
uable feature  of  the  hall  at  Beirut  which  bears  his 
name. 

His  unflagging  energy  and  zeal  finally  burned 
itself  out.  He  lived  his  three-score  years  and  ten, 
the  lamp  of  life  going  out  in  his  seventy-first  year. 
Shortly  before  his  death  he  remarked  wearily,  "  I 
have  worn  out  my  bodily  machine."  But  it  was 
impossible  for  a  man  of  his  nature  to  do  other- 
wise and  be  happy.  A  few  days  after  that  re- 
mark, a  discerning  friend  placed  in  his  still  right 
hand  some  generous  ears  of  ripe  wheat — a  beau- 
tiful symbol  that  his  life  had  not  been  lived  in 
vain. 

Personal  communication  from  Dr.  Bertram  V.  D.  Post. 

New  York  Observer,  October  7,  1909. 

New  York  Evening  Post,  October  8,  1909. 

The  Missionary  Review,  New  York,  December,  1909. 

Stone's  Biog.  of  Eminent  Amer.  Phys.  and  Surgs. 


JOSEPH   TRIMBLE    ROTHROCK 
(Bradford,  photographer) 


JOSEPH  TRIMBLE  ROTHROCK 


Rothrockia  cordifolia  —  GRAY 

I  asked  my  old  friend  Dr.  Rothrock  to  let  me 
know  something  of  his  career,  and  he  has  told  it 
so  well  that  the  story  is  given  as  it  was  sent  to 
me: 

"  The  son  of  Dr.  Abraham  and  Phoebe  B. 
Rothrock,  I  was  born  April  9,  1839,  in  McVey- 
town,  Mifflin  County,  Pennsylvania.  My  edu- 
cation in  early  life  was  greatly  interfered  with 
by  lack  of  vigorous  health  rather  than  by  actual 
disease;  open  air  was  an  absolute  necessity  to  me, 
and  throughout  my  entire  life,  I  have  sought  the 
'  out  of  doors  '  as  a  refuge  against  impending 
physical  ills. 

"  When  sixteen,  the  first  serious  attempts  at 
education  were  begun,  the  village  school  being 
the  starting-point.  From  this  I  passed  to  Free- 
land  Seminary,  in  Montgomery  County,  now 
Ursimus  College.  A  year  was  spent  in  Freeland. 
Then  came  a  break-down  in  health,  and  restora- 
tion was  sought  by  taking  a  position  as  an  axe- 
man in  the  civil  engineer  corps  then  located  in 
what  is  now  the  Philadelphia  and  Erie  Railroad 

203 


204     SOME  AMERICAN  MEDICAL  BOTANISTS 

through  the  wilds  of  Elk  and  Forest  Counties,  in 
Pennsylvania.  It  was  a  genuine  pioneer  life. 
Roads — and  these  bad — were  few  and  far  be- 
tween. There  was  a  scant  population,  with  only 
here  and  there  a  budding  village.  The  streams 
contained  many  trout,  and  deer  were  in  every 
forest,  but  not  a  house  was  built  in  the  now  pros- 
perous town  of  Kane.  No  extensive  lumbering 
or  mining  interests  existed  there  at  that  time 
though  the  hills  were  black  with  timber  and 
extensive  deposits  of  coal  were  known  to  exist. 

"  The  flora  of  the  region  contained  many  plants 
that  I  had  never  seen.  The  Trilliums  and  the 
Hobble  Bush  (Viburnum]  were  new  to  me.  My 
mother  was  a  distant  relative  of  Dr.  William 
Darlington  and,  like  him,  fond  of  botany;  so 
from  her  I  inherited  this  fondness,  she  being 
my  first  botanical  teacher,  while  Darlington's 
old  Florula  Cestrica  was  one  of  three  books 
which  constituted  my  botanical  library.  The 
other  two  were  Torrey's  Botany  and  Mrs.  Lin- 
coln's First  Lessons  in  Botany. 

"  I  had  never  before  seen  such  massive  white 
pines  or  hemlocks.  The  dense  woods  of  beech, 
yellow  birch  and  sugar  maples  amazed  me.  I 
allude  to  these  small  impressions  because  they 
shaped  my  life.  If  the  woods  of  my  own  state 
contained  so  many  things  of  interest,  what  could 
I  not  find  in  regions  unexplored?  I  would  be- 


JOSEPH  TRIMBLE  ROTHROCK  205 

come  an  explorer!  The  idea  took  possession  of 
me.  But  I  must  prepare  myself  by  study;  so 
from  that  time  on,  I  worked  in  earnest.  The 
report  of  Fremont's  explorations,  1842-43-44, 
and  later  the  explorations  of  Dr.  Kane,  came  into 
my  possession,  adding  fuel  to  the  flame. 

"  When  I  returned  to  school  at  Academia 
(then  a  well-known  preparatory  school  in  Juni- 
ata  County),  I  fitted  for  admission  to  Lawrence 
Scientific  School  in  Harvard  University,  and  in 
1860  was  accepted  by  Prof.  Asa  Gray  as  a  special 
pupil  in  botany,  working  in  his  herbarium.  He 
was  one  of  the  botanical  magnates  of  the  world, 
beyond  question  deservedly  so. 

"  No  youth  was  ever  more  fortunate  in  his 
teacher.  Dr.  Gray  was  kindness  personified, 
though  a  strict  disciplinarian  and  a  most  merci- 
less critic  of  a  student's  work.  I  owe  more  to  him 
than  to  any  other  man,  and  I  never  think  of  him 
without  veneration.  I  also  attended  the  lectures 
of  Louis  Agassiz  and  Jefferies  Wyman,  and  en- 
joyed the  personal  friendship  of  these  great 
teachers. 

"  The  Civil  War  was  upon  us.  I  volunteered 
as  a  private  in  Company  D,  i3ist  Regiment 
Pennsylvania  Volunteer  Infantry,  and  was  eighth 
corporal  in  the  company.  Getting  wounded  in 
the  right  thigh  at  the  battle  of  Fredericksburg, 
1862  (Burnside's  fight),  I  was  taken  to  Carver 


206      SOME  AMERICAN   MEDICAL  BOTANISTS 

Hospital  in  Washington,  but  was  transferred 
thence  to  Judiciary  Square  Hospital,  the  site  of 
the  present  Pension  Building,  where  my  friend, 
Prof.  B.  G.  Wilder,  operated  and  removed  the 
ball.  We  had  been  fellow-students  in  Harvard, 
and  before  enlisting  I  had  asked  him  to  remove 
the  ball  if  I  were  wounded  in  the  leg.  He 
assented,  though  neither  of  us  supposed  it  would 
so  happen.  In  July,  1863, 1  was  promoted  to  the 
captaincy  of  Company  E,  2Oth  Regiment,  Penn- 
sylvania Volunteer  Cavalry,  and  was  assigned 
to  duty  in  West  Virginia,  where  my  chief  work 
was  to  break  up  the  system  of  bushwhacking 
which  was  then  rife  in  that  region.  I  was  mus- 
tered out  at  the  expiration  of  my  six  months  of 
service  as  captain,  and  then  returned  to  Harvard 
to  complete  my  course  of  study.  A  little  episode 
interfered  with  my  intention;  the  venerable  pro- 
fessors of  Harvard  University,  to  show  their 
loyalty,  had  formed  themselves  into  a  military 
company.  Probably  no  one  expected  that  they 
would  be  called  out;  but  they  were  asked  to  gar- 
rison the  antiquated  fort  at  Long  Point,  near 
Provincetown,  on  Cape  Cod.  Professor  Gray 
was  a  member  of  the  company  and  determined 
to  go  with  it.  I  insisted  that  he  was  too  old,  and 
at  any  rate  Harvard  could  spare  me  better  than 
it  could  him,  so  after  much  persuasion  I  suc- 
ceeded in  overcoming  his  reluctance.  So  for 


JOSEPH  TRIMBLE  ROTHROCK  207 

three  months  I  was  soldiering  again.  It  is  fair 
to  say  that  the  service  was  neither  very  onerous 
nor  bloody.  I  returned  in  time  to  take  my  degree 
of  Bachelor  of  Science  in  July,  1864. 

"  That  fall  I  entered  the  medical  side  of  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania.  The  course  of  lec- 
tures was  hardly  over  before  I  was  requested  by 
the  Smithsonian  Institution  to  join  an  expedition 
to  British  Columbia  and  Alaska,  and  under  the 
auspices  of  the  Collins  Overland  Telegraph 
Company  (the  Atlantic  Cable  had  thus  far  been 
a  failure)  to  secure  telegraphic  communication 
by  the  North  Pacific  regions  with  Asia.  Our 
leader  was  Robert  Kennicott,  Major  Frank  Pope 
my  immediate  commander.  Thus  I  was  engaged 
from  June,  1865,  to  June,  1866.  The  scientific 
results  of  our  part  of  the  expedition  were  not 
much,  as  I  was  mainly  assigned  to  other  than 
scientific  work;  and  what  plants  I  collected  were 
lost  in  transportation  down  the  Fraser  River. 

"  I  began  to  study  medicine  again  in  the  win- 
ter of  1866  and  1867,  in  Philadelphia,  and  took 
my  M.  D.  in  the  spring  of  1867,  going  imme- 
diately afterwards  to  the  State  Agricultural  Col- 
lege as  Professor  of  Botany,  but  remaining  there 
only  two  years. 

"  In  May,  1869,  I  married  Martha  E.  May, 
to  whose  influence  in  shaping  my  subsequent  life 
I  must  pay  a  well-deserved  tribute;  and  in  my 
17 


208      SOME  AMERICAN  MEDICAL  BOTANISTS 

charitable  enterprises  she  has  always  given  cor- 
dial support,  even  when  results  were  most  unre- 
munerative  and  discouraging. 

"  In  1869  we  removed  to  Wilkes-Barre,  Penn- 
sylvania, where  I  was  fortunate  in  working  up 
a  good  practice.  It  has  always  been  a  pleasant 
thought  that  I  was  enabled  to  take  an  active  part 
in  starting  the  Wilkes-Barre  Hospital  on  a  long 
career  of  usefulness  as  one  of  the  leading  hos- 
pitals of  the  state. 

"  In  the  spring  of  1873  my  health  gave  way 
so  completely  that  I  was  obliged  to  abandon 
medical  practice.  A  position  as  Botanist  and 
Surgeon  to  the  Surveys  West  of  the  looth  Me- 
ridian, under  the  direction  of  Lieut.  George  M. 
Wheeler,  U.  S.  Engineer,  was  offered  and  gladly 
accepted.  I  was  assigned  to  duty  in  Colorado 
under  Lieut.  William  M.  Marshall.  There  was 
little  medical  duty,  but  Prof.  John  Wolf  and 
I  together  managed  to  collect  about  ten  sets  of 
plants,  which  would  average  one  thousand  spe- 
cies each.  I  must  say,  however,  that  Professor 
Wolf  deserves  more  credit  for  this  than  I  do,  as 
much  of  my  time  was  taken  up  with  general  ex- 
ecutive work.  I  did,  however,  manage  to  place 
the  barometer  on  the  top  of  a  large  number  of 
the  highest  peaks  in  central  and  southern  Colo- 
rado and  obtain  readings  there. 


JOSEPH  TRIMBLE  ROTHROCK  209 

"  In  1874  I  was  put  in  charge  of  a  small  scien- 
tific division,  and  was  assigned  to  duty  in  New 
Mexico  and  Arizona,  associated  with  that  dis- 
tinguished ornithologist,  Mr.  Henry  W.  Hen- 
shaw,  now  chief  of  the  Division  of  Economic  Zo- 
ology, in  the  Department  of  Agriculture,  Wash- 
ington. 

"  The  results  of  our  joint  labors  were,  on  the 
whole,  somewhat  remarkable,  and  have  contrib- 
uted much  to  knowledge  of  the  region.  I  made  a 
dozen  sets  of  plants  which  averaged  probably 
1,100  species  to  each  set.  In  1875  I  was  assigned 
in  the  California  division  and  operated  mainly 
in  the  central  portion  of  the  state. 

"  The  botanical  results  of  my  three  years  of 
service  on  this  survey  can  be  found  in  vol.  vi, 
United  States  Geographical  Surveys  West  of  the 
100th  Meridian,  Lieut.  G.  M.  Wheeler,  U.  S. 
Engineer,  In  charge,  quarto,  pp.  404,  thirty  illus- 
trations. The  volume  enumerates  and  generally 
describes  1,168  species,  belonging  to  637  genera, 
which  in  turn  represent  104  natural  orders  of 
plants.  In  the  preparation  of  this  volume  I  was 
assisted  by  almost  every  botanical  specialist  in  the 
country,  so  that  it  may  fairly  be  said  that  the 
book  has  been  and  is  still  considered  a  standard 
one. 

UA  considerable  portion  of  the  volume  is  de- 
voted to  topographical  considerations  and  to  the 


210      SOME  AMERICAN   MEDICAL  BOTANISTS 

economic  relations  of  the  plants  of  the  Southwest. 
Much  of  this  material  was  wholly  new.  The  so- 
called  '  loco  plants/  which  were  a  cause  of  great 
injury  to  the  stock-raisers,  came  under  my  ob- 
servation and  were  as  thoroughly  described  in 
appearance  and  in  effects  as  the  early  knowledge 
of  the  times  allowed.  It  is  fair  to  remark  that, 
though  I  left  much  to  be  said  about  them,  little 
of  anything  I  did  say  has  since  been  disproved. 

"In  1876  I  had  the  happy  idea  of  taking 
weakly  boys  in  summer  out  into  camp  life  in  the 
woods  and  under  competent  instruction  ming- 
ling exercise  and  study,  so  that  pursuit  of  health 
could  be  combined  with  acquisition  of  practical 
knowledge  outside  the  usual  academic  lines.  I 
founded  the  school  on  North  Mountain,  Luzerne 
County,  Pennsylvania,  and  designated  it  a  School 
of  Physical  Culture.1  There  had  been,  I  think, 
but  a  single  attempt  to  do  this  work  at  an  earlier 
period.  The  multitude,  now,  of  such  camps 
shows  the  seed  fell  into  good  ground. 

"  I  was  elected  Professor  of  Botany  in  the  Uni- 
versity of  Pennsylvania  in  1877,  and  served  until 
1891,  when  I  devoted  myself  wholly  to  conduct- 
ing a  forestry  propaganda  in  Pennsylvania.  I 
had,  however,  in  the  meantime,  been  also  giving 

1This  camp  was  taken  over  and  continued  for  two  years  by  Dr. 
Lewis  H.  Taylor,  Herr  Frank  and  myself.  We  received  and  taught 
about  twenty  boys  from  upper  schools  and  from  college,  in  zoology, 
meteorology  and  botany.  H.  A.  K. 


JOSEPH  TRIMBLE  ROTHROCK  211 

a  course  of  summer  lectures  on  Botany  and  For- 
estry in  Horticultural  Hall,  in  Fairmount  Park, 
under  the  so-called  Michaux  bequest,  to  the 
American  Philosophical  Society. 

"  In  1893  tne  time  seemed  to  be  ripe  for  legis- 
lative action.  I  drew  up  a  bill  creating  a  commis- 
sion to  investigate  and  report  upon  the  forestry 
condition  of  the  state. 

"  This  bill  was  passed  by  the  legislature,  and 
the  sum  of  $25,000  was  appropriated  for  the 
work.  The  report  was  to  be  made  to  the  legisla- 
ture in  1895.  My  active  colleague  in  the  work 
was  William  F.  Shunk,  one  of  the  most  accom- 
plished civil  engineers  that  the  country  has  ever 
produced.  We  labored  incessantly  during  the 
time  allowed  and,  I  think,  produced  as  good  a 
report  as  could  reasonably  have  been  expected. 
We  were  conscious  of  its  shortcomings,  but  it  was 
kindly  received  over  the  commonwealth,  and  not 
less  than  50,000  copies  were  distributed  over  the 
state.  The  book  contained  361  pages,  47  full- 
page  and  other  illustrations,  and  a  number  of 
maps. 

"  The  State  Department  of  Agriculture  was 
created  in  1895.  In  this,  there  being  a  division 
devoted  to  forestry,  I  was  appointed,  late  in  the 
year,  Commissioner  of  Forestry,  with  Robert  S. 
Conklin  as  my  clerk.  In  1901  forestry  had  be- 
come important  enough  in  public  esteem  to  war- 


212      SOME  AMERICAN   MEDICAL  BOTANISTS 

rant  the  creation  of  a  special  department,  which 
conferred  a  new  dignity  upon  the  Commissioner 
of  Forestry  and  made  him  a  member  of  the  Gov- 
ernor's cabinet. 

"  This  position  I  held  until  1904,  when  I  re- 
signed the  office,  for  I  had  been  twenty-six  years 
a  laborer  in  the  interest  of  Pennsylvania  forestry. 
It  is  for  others  to  place  an  estimate  upon  my 
efforts.  The  very  day  I  resigned,  a  vacancy  oc- 
curred in  the  advisory  board,  and  I  was  imme- 
diately appointed  to  fill  it.  (I  still  hold  the 
position,  without  salary.) 

"  In  1902,  (  without  warrant  of  law,'  I  estab- 
lished the  principle,  near  Mont  Alto,  of  opening 
homes  for  consumptives  on  the  State  Forest  Re- 
serve. A  few  cheap  shacks,  costing  on  the  aver- 
age about  fifty  dollars  each,  were  erected,  and 
in  these  such  suitable,  incipient  cases  as  cared  to 
come,  furnishing  their  own  food  and  preparing 
it,  were  allowed  to  stay  and  obtain  such  benefit  as 
they  could  from  forest  air,  food  and  rest. 

"  The  experiment  proved  a  success  and,  by 
1907,  legislative  appropriation,  aggregating  $23, 
ooo,  had  been  made  for  its  support.  Beyond 
doubt  great  good  was  done,  the  demands  for 
admission  being  always  in  excess  of  our  receiv- 
ing capacity.  In  1907,  on  the  request  of  the  For- 
estry Department,  the  camp  was  formally  turned 
over  to  the  newly  created  Department  of  Health. 


ROTHROCKIA  CORDIFOLIA 
(Gray) 


JOSEPH  TRIMBLE  ROTHROCK  213 

It  has  since  received  large  legislative  appropria- 
tions, and  under  the  direction  of  Dr.  Samuel  G. 
Dixon,  Commissioner  of  Public  Health,  has 
grown  into  a  great  sanatorium,  holding  850 
patients. 

"  I  am  a  member  of  the  usual  number  of 
learned  societies,  and  in  religious  faith  an  Epis- 
copalian, and  politically  a  Republican,  when 
my  conscience  will  endure  it. 

"  I  have  quite  a  number  of  plants  loaded  with 
my  name :  first  there  is,  from  Lower  California 
a  genus  Rothrockia  which  belongs  to  the  family 
Asclepiadaceae.  Then  come  Artemisia  Roth- 
rockia, Halenia  Rothrockii,  Nama  Rothrockii, 
Pentstemon  Rothrockii,  Stachys  Rothrockii, 
Townsendia  Rothrockii.  There  are  several 
others  which  I  have  lost  sight  of,  scattered 
through  various  publications,  and  which  I  have 
now  no  means  of  tracing  since  I  sold  my  library 
and  herbarium  to  the  Field  Museum  in  Chi- 
cago. 

Joseph  Trimble  Rothrock." 


HARRY  HAPEMAN 

1858- 
Sullivantla  Hapemani — COULTER 

I  asked  Dr.  Harry  Hapeman  to  give  me  some 
information  relative  to  his  work,  and  he  tells 
me: 

<c  I  was  born  at  Earlville,  Illinois,  on  February 
i,  1858,  and  graduated  M.  D.  at  Rush  College, 
in  1882.  Having  always  been  an  ardent  lover  of 
everything  in  nature,  I  have  made  the  study  of 
botany  largely  my  recreation.  Coming  to  Ne- 
braska in  times  when  the  flora  of  the  region  was 
not  fully  known,  I  interested  myself  in  collecting 
botanical  material  for  the  Nebraska  University, 
wholly  as  an  amateur,  and  working  in  my  vaca- 
tions. About  1890  or  1891,  Dr.  Bessey,  of  the 
Nebraska  State  University,  attempted  to  cata- 
logue the  known  plants  of  Nebraska,  and  asked 
me  to  report  any  I  might  find.  During  the  two 
following  years  he  succeeded  in  adding  nearly 
200,  many  of  which  were  the  fresh-water  Algae. 

"  Since  that  time,  my  principal  collecting  has 
been  in  Wyoming,  Colorado,  Texas  and  the 
Hawaiian  Islands.  One  of  my  new  species,  from 
Wyoming,  was  named  Sullivantia  Hapemani, 

214 


DR.    HARRY   HAPEMAN 
(Lumiere  Studio,  Omaha) 


HARRY   HAPEMAN  215 

by  Coulter.  I  have  at  present  (1912)  some  new 
and  undescribed  species  from  the  Hawaiian 
Islands  which  I  have  not  yet  had  time  to  pub- 
lish." 


18 


A  few  other  medical  men  who  have  been  hon- 
ored by  floral  tributes,  concerning  whom  it  was 
difficult  to  obtain  more  than  a  few  scant  bio- 
graphical data,  are : 

William  E.  A.  Aiken,  1807-1888. 

John    Brickell, 1810,    "aged    about 

ninety"  (Barnhart). 
William  P.  Gibbons,  1812-1897. 
Thomas  Horsfield,  1773-1859. 
Albert  Kellogg,  1813-1887. 
Melines  Conklin  Leavenworth,  1796-1862. 
William  Tully,  1785-1859. 
William  Zollickoffer,  1793-1853. 


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